Of the Night: Choices, Change, and Fate
by mathmonkey167
Summary: Responsibility, rejection, love, anger, adventure... Time passes quickly for the humans and dragons of Berk, but fate finds us all sooner or later. How long can they run from the consequences of their choices? SEQUEL TO OF THE NIGHT. Contains many OC's, starring Hiccup's and Toothless's children. (T for some potential violence, language, and suggestive themes.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, friends :) it's been **_**so **_**long since we last convened. Here's that sequel I promised you (read: tortured you with knowledge of). **

**This is all from scratch. Nearly all the characters you are going to meet in this story are my own, barring Hiccup, Astrid, Valka, Toothless, Stormfly, Cloudjumper, Gobber/Grump, Eret/Skullcrusher, and the "gang" (Snotlout/Hookfang, the twins/Barf and Belch, Fishlegs/ Meatlug.) That may seem like a pretty solid number of characters that **_**aren't **_**mine, but rest assured, you will be introduced to many new names, and maybe even a few new types of dragons, so be prepared for that. **

**I'm excited! I hope you are, too. Because this is all being summoned from the depths of my imagination, your thoughts are always welcome. So read, review, and enjoy. **

**Love, the one and only MathMonkey. **

**PS: If it's been a while since you've brushed up on your Of the Night knowledge, you might want to take a peek at it again before proceeding. **

* * *

><p>Time passed quickly on the island of Berk. Before Hiccup knew it, his daughter was ten years old, and already exhibiting signs of following closely in his footsteps.<p>

A little too closely, if you asked him, because even as she managed not to trip over her own feet most of the time, she did have a tendency to knock things over and inadvertently cause destruction in general. The village was stricken by how much she looked like her father, with messy auburn hair and inquisitive green eyes, but her behavior really made the resemblance

complete. She was Gobber's new apprentice, as the old blacksmith could teach Hiccup nothing new. As his apprentice, she came up with all sorts of interesting gadgets, mostly toys for her younger siblings, and she had even designed her own saddle for her dragon when she was just eight years old. But she also had some... less helpful inventions, often attempting to replicate dragon behavior. Once, she had gotten ahold of one of her father's canisters of Zippleback gas, which he used for his fire sword. Plugging it into a sparking device with a trigger, she essentially created a mini-flamethrower, which she gleefully scorched small plants with until she accidentally lit up an entire tree, causing something of a forest fire.

Hiccup was forced to scold her, which made her cry, which made him feel terrible. Astrid was the only one who saw past the half-hearted lecture to the obvious pride Hiccup felt for their daughter's ingenuity.

Then came the day she crafted her own set of leather wings and proceeded to jump off the roof of their house, Shade looking on nervously from the ground. That had resulted in a painfully broken right arm, which was somewhat fortunate for Aeri, because she was left handed.

Astrid and Hiccup, and the entire village, actually, were just grateful that Erik seemed to possess none of his older sister's unusual interests. Instead, he sated his curiosity reading books, and as much material as he could gather about dragons. Books about pretty much every other subject, as well, which Hiccup procured for him from the various traders who came to Berk.

For under Hiccup's leadership, Berk had become a hub for trade in the northern seas, not just between tribes but from farther away as well. Trader Johann had expanded his business to include almost a dozen ships, which he sent all over the world. They would return with exotic spices, fabrics, treasures, and most importantly to the Haddock family, books.

When little Alyka came along five years later, everyone wondered who she would take after. Erik, who was two years younger than Aeri, had dark brown hair like his grandmother and his

mother's blue eyes. Alyka had both her mother's blonde locks and blue eyes, was lively and vibrant and, as she grew older, increasingly tough. When she was old enough to hold her first axe Astrid was there, proudly showing her proper technique to best utilize her weapon while also avoiding losing her fingers.

Toothless also had his own growing family. He and Hiccup had a strange sort of accord. They did their best to bring new children into the world as closely to the same time as they could. Shade grew up alongside Aeri, and Toothless's and Lightning's second hatchling, Storm, was raised with Erik. Where Erik was quiet and reserved, green-eyed Storm was bold and adventurous, but together they made the perfect team. Alyka was born just before Soturi, also green-eyed, hatched, both of them fearless and energetic. Neither set of parents felt that they were finished just yet, but it seemed prudent to take a break from reproduction for a while to watch over their respective first three children.

Cinder was now twenty, lean from his flights to and from the Night Fury colony, and Ash was fifteen, beautiful and spirited. Cinder would often make excuses to avoid bringing his sister with him on his journeys, partially because her wings, having been broken ten years before, never regained their full strength, but mostly because he didn't want her around any of the younger male Night Furies on the island.

It was an unspoken understanding that Cinder would soon become Toothless's second-in- command. Cloudjumper was getting older, and was relying on the younger dragon more and more as time went on. Cinder worked hard and paid close attention, knowing that his role would be more than just emissary between the Night Fury colony and Berk, but as acting Alpha in the event that Toothless was absent.

He had spent a while thinking about it, but Cinder realized he didn't want to be Alpha. The pressures of leadership didn't appeal to him, so he spent his time learning how to run things behind the scenes, where the stress wasn't so great.

Because of this, all expectations fell on Shade. At ten years of age, he already had his paws full enough trying to keep Aeri out of too much trouble, let alone learn the proper ways to mediate arguments and speak publicly and manage food collection and storage and oversee human/ dragon activity... the responsibilities of an Alpha were varied, and for a ten year old, overwhelming. Fortunately, Toothless was still in the earlier years of his prime, and didn't force too much on his eldest hatchling. He understood perfectly well how much energy it took to keep a curious human out of trouble, and Aeri was fast approaching the age when the scale of her misadventures would inflate exponentially. Even so, Shade's only solace when Aeri wasn't around was Ash, who still maintained her friendship with him, even as time carried their lives in different directions.

As far as Aeri was concerned, that age arrived all too soon for the residents of Berk. But strangely enough, rather than cause _more _damage, Aeri seemed to... calm down. At fifteen, she was already her mother's height, and rather slender, but seemed to use her self-consciousness as a learning mechanism. She was listening more, and speaking her mind just a little less. She began more rigorous training with Shade, quickly coming to take the lead in their classes at the Academy, surpassing the other students their age with both knowledge and ability, not to mention their success at dragon racing. She willingly worked with weapons, but didn't seem to prefer one over any other.

Erik, only two years behind her, shared her slimness, but had begun taking time from his studies to practice with a sword his father had made for him. He, too, rose to the top of his class, and while many of the Vikings wanted to say that the Haddock children's success was due to their Night Furies, it could not be denied that they were also remarkable individuals in their own ways.

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><p><strong>EDIT: Just posted the first chapters of a story parallel to this one, starring an OC who will be appearing later in this story. He's an interesting character, and I think you might enjoy reading about him to get a better understanding of who he is and where he comes from. Sound good?<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

At seventeen, Aeri had become remarkably more graceful, and was almost as tall as her father at six feet exactly. Her mother had trained her well, and she showed advanced proficiency when wielding weapons of all kinds, although she seemed to prefer the spear her father had given her for her sixteenth birthday. The tip of it was Gronckle iron, and the shaft was a dense, polished wood that fit perfectly in her palm. The leather securing the head was the same color as the wood, a rich brown, and two small white feathers hung from the ties.

The village loved her, and she had no shortage of admirers among the Vikings her age, who she did her best to ignore. All of Hiccup and Astrid's friends had children of their own, not to mention the other young Vikings in the village, who were all awed by her skill and her Night Fury partner. She was a perfect combination of her mother and father, strong and thoughtful, although she possessed much of their stubbornness. Which, unfortunately, still got her into trouble, as did her distaste for responsibility and her somewhat reckless nature.

"Aeri! You need to control your temper!" Hiccup was on the verge of shouting in the downstairs living room of their constantly-expanding home, but he restrained himself. "If you don't like someone, be polite and stay away from them!"

"I tried that, Dad, but he kept following me around, giving me creepy looks!"  
>"That doesn't make it acceptable to set your dragon on him in the dead of night, especially when<p>

that dragon happens to be a _Night Fury_!"

"I didn't do that until he put his arm around me! He smelled awful, and he was leaning in my face trying to kiss me and-"

"And breaking his nose, punching him in the gut, and kneeing him... you know, _there_- weren't enough?"

"Let me think about that," she said sarcastically. "NO!"

"If something like that happens, you know to come straight to me or your mother. You aren't to dispense your own justice! Now I have to stop the Meatheads from declaring war because your dragon hung their Chief's son upside-down by his _underwear _on the doors of the Great Hall! He could have been seriously hurt!"

"I wish he was," Aeri grumbled.

"That's not funny! You know I dislike the Meatheads as much as the next Hooligan," her father lowered his voice, looking around to make sure they weren't overhead, even though they were inside their own house. "But the fact is, we can't afford to start a war right now. Not when we have so many traders scheduled to arrive in the next month."

"Why aren't you more upset about this?" she cried out. "He would have done a lot more than _kiss _me if I hadn't taken things into my own hands!"

"You think I don't know that?" her father asked her incredulously. "If it would help things I would kill the idiot myself. But I know you're safe, even without Shade to protect you. Your mother trained you well. Even _ten _Meathead boys couldn't hope to take you on."

She started to protest, but he held up a hand, silencing her. "Aeri. I'm probably more upset by this than you are, and not because of _your _actions. I'm sorry I shouted. I'm going to tell the Meathead Chief that if his son or any other person in his tribe steps out of line in Hooligan territory again, _they'll _be the ones facing a war." He paused, looking thoughtful. "He's not such a

bad guy. Smelly? Yes. Hairy? Definitely. But he doesn't have a bad heart, which means he can be reasoned with."

Her father leaned in and hugged her. For a moment she stood stiffly, trying to resist, but finally put her arms around him, allowing him to comfort her. Stepping back, he cupped her chin with one hand and rested the other one on her shoulder. "I'm glad you're safe." Releasing her, he opened the front door and strode out. "Toothless!" Within moments the flapping of wings could be heard, and Aeri could hear her father's voice. "Time for a little diplomacy, bud."

Aeri barely contained her frustration. Her father was right, as usual, but it didn't make her life any easier.

"Why was there yelling?" a small voice carried across the room and Aeri looked up to see her five-year-old sister Wren standing at the top of the stairs, rubbing her eyes with a small fist. _Their arguing must have woken her from her nap. _

"Oh, no reason. I did something stupid again," she said, smiling as she walked over to the bottom of the stairs, holding out her arms. Wren willingly tottered down each step, followed closely by the rapidly-growing Skali, who offered Aeri a toothless grin before jumping off the edge to come around behind her.

Now holding her sister, Aeri turned and addressed Wren's dragon. "I bet Shade doesn't get yelled at nearly as much as I do," she said. But Skali just smiled again, shrugging. _Who knows?_

* * *

><p>"Holly, Svar and Palo arrived this morning."<p>

Cinder's stomach did a little flip when he thought of the forest-eyed female, and he scowled down at it, willing it to sit still. It was long past time for him to formally address their courtship, but for some reason he couldn't shake the fear that she might not want to become his mate. _That's ridiculous, _he thought. _I'm twenty-seven years old, and she's thirty-one! If we weren't serious, we wouldn't still be in this situation. _

For it was something of a difficult situation. Holly lived on the island with the other Night Furies, and Cinder lived on Berk. They saw each other about once a month, alternating which one of them would make the long journey to the other. Oftentimes the trips were made as diplomatic excursions, but everyone involved knew that there was more to it concerning the two of them. The challenge of asking her to become his mate lay in convincing her to live on Berk permanently, to leave behind the rest of her family and the life she knew.

"Cinder?"

"Sorry," he looked apologetically at Toothless, who had one eyebrow raised.

"Anyways. The most recent-" the sound of flapping wings interrupted him, and with a frown, he waited for whoever it was to arrive.

"Hey Dad, hey Cinder, hey Cloudjumper," Shade said breathlessly as he skidded to a stop in the sun next to their shady spot underneath the trees high up on the mountain.

"Where have you been?" Toothless demanded. "I was just fishing with Soturi and Alyka-"

"No, I meant for the last two nights."

"Oh. I, uh... was with Aeri."

Toothless gestured to Cinder and Cloudjumper that they could leave. Once they were gone, he turned back to look at his son, who was wearing his saddle and innocently focusing on a speck on the ground. _What am I going to do with him? _Shade was almost as large as he was, which he was inexplicably proud of, but he also had the same hard head he did, which Toothless was less happy about.

"With Aeri? And what were you two up to?" he asked, piercing him with his green gaze. "We, ah... we were just hanging out around the village."  
>"Hanging out, huh? You want to know who else was <em>hanging out<em>?"

Shade tried not to wince. He knew what was coming. "What were you _thinking_, hanging the Meathead Chief's son from the doors of the Great Hall? He could have been seriously hurt, or worse! Are you trying to get Hiccup in trouble?"

"No..." Shade mumbled. "He was bothering Aeri..."

"And you don't think that the humans could have handled that on their own?"

"What do you want me to say, Dad?" Shade was growing frustrated. "She was upset! Okay, so we didn't really think it through, but that dumb human deserved much worse than what I did to him," he finished darkly.

Toothless sighed. "How is it that you two always manage to end up in some kind of trouble?"

"Well, I for one get pretty bored! Why can't you give me more important things to do?" "Because you obviously aren't mature enough to handle them!"  
>"You haven't given me the chance to prove that I am!"<p>

"The proof is in your actions, Shade. When you misbehave and I'm forced to cover for you, or when you put Hiccup in a tight spot like you did with the Meathead boy. When you can't be trusted to follow through with the simplest requests, like delivering a basket of fish or showing up to help the humans work on their fields."

"That's because those things aren't important!"  
>"Everything we do is important, Shade," Toothless growled.<p>

"No, everything _you _do is important!" he yelled at his father. "If I'm supposed to be Alpha someday, why can't you just give me something bigger to do?"

"Because," Toothless said slowly, "being Alpha means that you are a leader in everything you do. From the smallest task to the grandest undertaking, you must give the same amount of your energy and focus."

"I _do _that!"

"No, you don't!" Toothless finally lost his temper. "You run off with Aeri and leave everyone else to do the work you deem unimportant. You're distracted when you actually do show up to help, and you're just so damn impatient!"

"You've never been impatient before?"

"Not when it counts. And when you're the Alpha, it _always _counts. That's why you don't get to do the more _important _things. Because you don't have any respect for anyone or anything besides yourself. That's why you aren't the Alpha, and you aren't ever going to be, unless you can manage to learn some humility and responsibility!" he finished with a shout, glowering at his son.

Shade felt like he had been kicked. Rather than embarrass himself by answering, he turned around and took off into the sky, flying over the forest to be by himself.

On the mountain, Toothless wrestled with remorse, before sighing. He knew he shouldn't be so hard on Shade, but how could he not be when his son was so damn irresponsible? He wanted to be Alpha, but Toothless worried that he would never be ready. With that depressing thought, he spread his wings and soared back down to the village, seeking out his mate.


	3. Chapter 3

"Shade?"

He opened his eyes to see Aeri climbing up over the edge of the cliff. Alarmed, he leapt to his feet and pulled her away from the ledge, looking down nervously.

"Relax!" she laughed, dusting off her hands. "There were plenty of handholds and roots to grab onto."

He gave her a look of disbelief.

"Seriously! Did I wake you up from your nap?"

He hadn't been asleep, just trying to clear his head. Shaking his head no, he backed up a little further and laid down on the ground again. Accepting the invitation, Aeri dropped to sit on her rear end and scooted in until she was resting her back against his side. His tail curled around them, tucking her just a little closer. Folding her arms behind her head, she looked out over the forest to the vast ocean beyond.

"I got yelled at by my dad. Does Toothless ever yell at you?" Shade snorted, as if to say, "_You have no idea." _

"I feel like they just don't care sometimes. I mean, I know they love me, but why can't they restrain themselves from the constant lectures and disappointed frowns?"

He wondered the same thing. His mother wasn't really the lecture-y type, but his dad never seemed to run out of reasons to be mad at him. Which was ridiculous, because he was great to everyone else. All the dragons and humans _loved _his father. Granted, he _had _saved Berk multiple times from monstrous enemies and seemingly unconquerable odds. And he'd saved the entire colony of Night Furies from some evil dragon overlord. Everyone thought Alpha Toothless was so perfect, just the best in every way. When Shade was growing up, he'd felt the same. His dad could do no wrong. Then, everything changed. That was around the same time Hiccup and Astrid started being more strict with Aeri.

It made sense, he supposed. He and Aeri were both supposed to be successors to the greatest leaders their respective races had ever known. Their fathers were heroes, legends. And they weren't even dead yet. How were they supposed to fill those roles? This was a time of peace and prosperity. There were no great foes to vanquish, no heroic deeds to be done. They were just teenagers, doing what teenagers do.

He rumbled his agreement.

She turned to look at him. "What if we just left, Shade? No more rules, no more yelling, no more responsibility. What do you think?"

Her dragon appeared to seriously consider her words, before shrugging.

"I guess you're right," Aeri said, deflating. "You and I are in line for our own chiefdoms, I suppose, and it would be stupid to run away." But it didn't feel stupid. It was... tempting. And the possibility of freedom lurked as always in the backs of their minds.

* * *

><p>"I'll see you later, Shade." He rumbled at her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Goodnight."<p>

The sun had set before they decided to return to the village, and the streets were empty, save for the occasional torch-bearing guard and their dragon. Shade, nuzzling her hair one last time, turned and headed towards the large shelter he and his family called home. Once the front door had closed behind Aeri, he pushed open the door to his own home and slipped inside, silently padded over to the left side, avoiding his sleeping siblings, and jumped up onto the platform he slept on. Looking over the Night Furies, his eyes settled on Ash, who slept in the back of the room near Cinder and his parents.

Over the past few years, his feelings for his best friend (besides Aeri) had grown into something almost unbearable. He couldn't look at Ash without tripping over his own feet, and his heart would beat wildly when she smiled at him. The worst part was, she probably had no idea how he felt, but he was slowly working up the courage to tell her. He was feeling slightly reckless at the moment, but it would have to wait.

A pair of blue eyes caught his attention. His mother was watching him, curled up next to his sleeping father. Shaking his head, he turned away from her knowing gaze and curled himself up into a rather large ball, his thoughts keeping him awake throughout the night.

After saying goodnight to Shade, Aeri quietly opened the front door to her house and crept in, avoiding the floorboards she knew squeaked. She passed the dying fire and was almost to the stairs when-

"And where have _you _been?"

Slowly she turned, caught. Her mother's voice didn't sound angry, which was a good thing, because her temper was rather explosive. She had gotten better at restraining herself over the

years, according to some of the villagers, and her father too, as a matter of fact. Apparently she used to be quite fiery, a trait she seemed to have passed on to Aeri's sister Alyka.

"I was with Shade."

"Staying out of trouble, I hope?"

"Yes, Mom. Is Dad home?"

"Yes, but he's already asleep. He was busy all day cleaning up after that mess with the Meathead boy."

That struck a nerve. "I could have _cleaned up _after myself!"  
>"Don't yell, your brother and sisters are sleeping upstairs. And no, you couldn't have. Because<p>

you don't have the patience or respect to deal with the people you don't want to be around." "Ugh! Whatever!"  
>"Watch your tone, young lady."<br>"_Sorry_, Mom. I'll try not to make any more _messes _in the future."

"One of these days, sorry isn't going to be good enough, Aeri."  
>"Well we can worry about that day when it arrives," she said snarkily.<p>

Astrid rubbed her forehead with one hand, and sighed. "I need you to watch Wren for a few hours tomorrow."

"Fine. Goodnight."  
>"Goodnight..." but Aeri was already upstairs.<p>

Returning to the bedroom in the back of the house, Astrid slipped under the furs and snuggled in close to Hiccup. "What happened to our little girl?" she whispered.

He rolled over, wrapping her in his arms, and mumbled, "Teenager."

Upstairs, Aeri couldn't sleep. Frustrated, she got up and lit a candle, thankful that she didn't share a room with any of her siblings. Sitting down at her desk, she pulled out her journal, flipping past sketches of Shade, before arriving at a blank page.

_I feel like I'm suffocating. _

Slamming it shut, she turned and walked over to her mirror, staring into the glass at her reflection. It had been a gift from her father, who had made it himself. It was one of the nicest things she owned, and she loved the carvings of Night Furies around the edges. Just another reminder of how thoughtful her dad was, and how far apart they had drifted.

Staring critically at herself, she noted her large green eyes, another gift from her father. Her face was wider than her father's but not so much as her mother's. She had a small nose, dotted with freckles. There was a small scar through her right eyebrow, from when she was little and thought it would be a good idea to sneak up on a Terrible Terror. She was just a little too slender, her collarbone visible over the top of her thin white tunic. All in all, she was very plain looking. Not a great beauty like her mother, not even as pretty as her grandmother, who still possessed smooth, flawless skin with only a few laugh lines crinkling her face.

Lastly, her hair. Pulling it out from its braids, it fell in auburn waves down her back. Her mother had always loved her hair. She said it was just like her father's, and in truth it was exactly the same shade, and just as thick. All her life she'd worn it in braids with bangs across her forehead, and suddenly she was sick of it. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over onto her cheeks, and without hesitation she reached over to her nightstand and pulled out her pocket knife. Holding out a fistful of her hair, she swiftly drew the blade through it, and it came away in her hand, leaving a section of wavy locks that barely reached her shoulder. She made quick work of the rest of it, crying silently the entire time, letting it all fall to the ground. When she was finished, she tossed her knife onto her desk, not wanting to look at it. Without looking at her reflection, she blew out her candle and crawled into bed, soon falling into a restless sleep.

Aeri awoke the next morning with a pounding headache. _What... oh, yeah. _She had been crying. Yawning, she sat up, and realized she felt much lighter than she normally did. Hesitantly she reached up and fingered the asymmetrical edges of her new short hair.

Slowly getting out of bed, she walked over to her mirror, and tried not to gasp. Her hair was choppy and uneven, none of it reaching her shoulders. Fortunately, she hadn't cut her bangs, but the rest of her hair sort of feathered out, looking like a longer version of her dad's. _Well, look at the positives. _She wasn't bald like Gobber, and the new cut seemed to frame her face well enough. Her eyes looked much bigger than they had before, which she figured was a good thing.

"Aeri?"

_Oh, crap. _Her hair was still in a pile on the floor in front of her mirror. Frantically, she looked around, her eyes settling on her helmet.

"I'll be down in a minute, Mom!"

Quickly she threw on her tunic and leggings, hopping around as she pulled on her boots. Finally she tucked all her hair up underneath the rim of her helmet, which looked a lot like the one her dad had passed on to Erik.

Throwing open her door, she ran down the stairs, just in time to intercept her mother, who looked impatient.

"Are you ready to watch Wren?"  
>"What? Yeah, sure!" she knew her voice was too bright, but couldn't help it.<p>

Astrid looked suspiciously at her daughter. _Why was she wearing her helmet? _But what kind of trouble could she have gotten into before even leaving the house?

"I'm going to meet your father at the docks to send off the Meatheads, who fortunately have been appeased."

Aeri stifled the thread of irritation that rose at the mention of the Meathead situation. "That's great," she ground out.

"We'll be out for most of the day, because a trading ship has been spotted coming in from the east. Can you handle your sister for that long?"

"Wren? Of course!"

"All right," Astrid said, sounding unconvinced but having no choice. "Be safe, and I'll see you at dinner."

"See you then!"

* * *

><p>Shade soared over the village, breathing in deeply<em>. <em>He could prove to his father that he was more responsible. Just not today. Flying into a puffy white cloud, he spun around until he was flying upside down, reveling in the sensation of mist against his scales.

His heart almost stopped when he came out of the other side. Another Night Fury was gliding just feet above him. _Who... _

Ash looked down and grinned at Shade's shocked expression, which quickly turned into one of amusement.

"You like scaring dragons to death, Ash?" he called up to her. "I've been practicing!"  
>"So you have. I didn't even hear you coming."<br>"That's because you're half deaf."

"Hey!"

Laughing, she pulled away, flying higher. Quickly Shade turned over and followed, heart pounding in his chest. They flew around the island, passing through clouds and spiraling into dives before looping back upwards.

Ash had become bored of sitting with Cinder while he listened to other dragons' problems, so when she saw Shade passing overhead, she immediately excused herself and took off after him. She hadn't spent very much time with her best friend lately, and was glad to have the chance to just fly around and be herself.

After a while, she called out to him, "Shade! My wings are getting kind of tired, can we land somewhere?"

He nodded, and banked to the left. Ash was thankful that he was so understanding about her wings. Some dragons grew frustrated by her lack of endurance, but it wasn't her fault her wings had been broken when she was five. It was thanks to Hiccup that she was able to fly again at all, and that was all that mattered, no matter that she couldn't go out for very long. Shade had never given her a hard time about it, in fact, he seemed to respect her more for it, which eased her self- consciousness.

She followed him to the cove, mimicking his gradual downward spiral. Finally they landed gently, both heading to the lake in the middle to get a drink. Shade wasn't paying attention, so she took her tail and splashed water all over him. Startled, he looked up to see her laughing, and with a grin he splashed her back, coming closer and closer. She gulped, but then he leapt sideways into the water, submerging himself completely. A few moments passed and he didn't come back up, so Ash ignored her instincts and waded out further, peering into the depths for a sign of him. She saw nothing, and was about to turn back when-

"Raaaagh!" he erupted out of the water, grabbing her shoulders and flipping her upside down after him as he fell back into the lake. They tussled for a while, Ash gaining the upper hand. They came to the surface, and she grinned triumphantly, until it occurred to her that he might be going easy on her.

"Hey!" she shouted.  
>"What?" he gurgled from underwater. "Don't go easy on me! I can hold my own!"<p>

He appeared to ponder this for a moment before grinning evilly. Ash had about half a second before Shade somehow flipped himself up over her, pulling her out of the water completely, landing on his hind legs in shallower water still gripping her sides with his front paws as he lowered her onto her back, dropping her the last few inches so that the air rushed from her lungs when she hit the sand.

Smirking, he looked down at her victoriously, and she rolled her eyes, until he took one paw and started batting at her with it. Laughing, she fought back, accidentally kicking him in the stomach. It was his turn to lose his breath, and he glared at her with a dark look on his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before he started tickling her, and she shrieked with laughter, trying to get away.

"Stop! Stop!" she gasped, and he finally listened, ceasing his attack but not moving the rest of his body off of hers. "I guess I'm at your mercy," she teased him.

A strange look passed over his face and he abruptly stood up, stepping off of her and backing up. Ash rolled to her feet, shaking the water from her ears. "What's the matter?"

Shade swallowed, not answering, and Ash could swear he looked nervous. "What is it, Shade?" Finally, he responded. "There's... there's something I need to tell you, Ash."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello :) I hope you've liked what I have here so far. If you're reading and you've never reviewed, might I encourage you to try it out? It helps me and makes me feel like you guys care ;) even if you don't. Anyways, things are about to take a bit of a turn. Enjoy… **

* * *

><p>Aeri chased the green Nadder down the street. "Get back here!" One of Stormfly's almost-grown-up hatchlings had snatched her helmet right off of her head, and now she was in pursuit of it, trying to ignore the stares of the other villagers.<p>

Abruptly the dragon stopped, and Aeri barreled around it, reaching up to snatch her helmet from its mouth. "Gotcha!"

"Aeri?" _Uh oh._

She turned around slowly to see her parents next to their dragons, none of them looking very happy to see her.

* * *

><p>Ash was completely unprepared for this. "Look, Shade, I just don't see you that way."<p>

"But why? I'm not a hatchling, Ash. Not anymore. I'm old enough to know what I want, and I want you."

His words were powerful, but Ash couldn't subdue the turmoil in her heart. "I was practically raised by your parents! You're supposed to be like my brother!"

"But I'm not your brother! I don't care who raised you!"

"You should care! It… changes things."

"No, I see how it is. You like that Night Fury from the colony, Holly's brother, whatever his name is, and now I've gone and made a mess of it."

She was shaking her head. "That's not-"

"Don't deny it!"

"Fine! You _have _made a mess of it! And I don't know if you're ever going to be able to fix it!" Angrily she leapt into the air, ignoring the slight ache in her wings from the abrupt take off, leaving Shade behind in the cove, shaking with his own anger.

_No._ He wouldn't be a victim of his own weak heart. Never again would he allow anyone so close, never again would he trust anyone with his feelings or his thoughts. Rejected first by his father, and now by his best friend- something cold washed over him, and the pain went numb. Gone was his foolish pride, gone were his naive dreams.

The only one left to him was Aeri, and he would devote himself to her protection and happiness for the rest of his life. Nothing else mattered anymore.

* * *

><p>"Aeri, you have to be more responsible! As much as I trust dragons, you can't leave your little sister with a bunch of hatchlings!"<p>

"I'm sorry, Dad, I just forgot-"

"You always forget, Aeri!" her mother interrupted. "Someday you're going to be responsible for a lot more people than just your younger siblings, and when you are you can't just forget to look after them!" The three of them were in the mostly empty Great Hall, their rising voices carrying up to the rafters.

"I don't-"

"Look, Aeri," Hiccup said, trying to be patient. "I'm not going to live forever. Someday it's going to be up to you to care for every inhabitant of Berk, and now is the time to prepare yourself for that role."

"Those _inhabitants _don't seem to have a problem with me now!" It was true, for reasons that escaped Aeri, everyone in the village adored her_, _even with all her mishaps.

"Your father is right," Astrid said. "First you nearly killed yourself with that stunt over the square-" Aeri tried not to wince. She'd tried to make a sheet strong enough to slow her fall when she jumped off of Shade, but it sort of backfired. "-then you almost killed the son of the Chief of one of our strongest allies, then you cut all your hair off, and today you went and left your little sister, who you promised you'd look after, with a bunch of untrained baby dragons! Your irresponsibility seems harmless enough now, but if you didn't have us to clean up after you, where would you be?"

"_Clean up _after me? Are you serious? I'm not a child anymore! Don't treat me like I'm some kind of embarrassment, some kind of _accident!_" she shouted, tears pricking her eyes.

Her mother looked incensed, but her father was horrified. "Aeri, you have _never _been an… an embarrassment, or an _accident!_ Do you think I would ever allow another human being to feel how I felt the first fifteen years of my life? Because that's all I was! Hiccup the _Useless! _And everyone thought of me that way, including your mother!"

Astrid took a step back, jaw dropping. "Hiccup-"

"No, Astrid, don't deny it. I wasn't just an embarrassment to my father, I was a veritable _disaster _to the rest of the tribe! They only accepted me after I saved them all from certain death because of their own foolish misconceptions about what it meant to be a Viking! I didn't do the things I've done since then so that my own daughter could be made to feel like she isn't worthwhile! Because that's not true!" he was shouting now, and the few scattered villagers in the Hall were glancing nervously at each other.

Aeri regretted her words, but it was too late to take them back. "I can't take this any more! Dad, I don't want to be Chief!"

"I didn't want to be Chief either, but we don't get to choose who we are born to become!"

"I can and I _will _choose for myself! Starting right now!" She whirled around and ran from the Great Hall. Astrid moved to follow her, her daughter's name on her lips, when Hiccup stopped her.

"Let her go," he said heavily. "She'll find her path."

Leaping down the steps, her short auburn hair trailing behind her, Aeri turned to see her dragon landing nearby, a dark look on his face. His scowl faded with concern at her distress. "Come on, Shade," she said, wiping her eyes. "I think… I think it's time to go on a little adventure."

He couldn't agree more.

Within the hour they were gone, nothing more than a shadow on the wind.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi friends. So here's another request for fan art if you are so inspired to create it. I could use a cover image for the story and I'd love for it to come from one of you. So message me if you are interested in doing something like that, or if you have any ideas for the story. <strong>

**Speaking of ideas for the story, I'm writing a parallel fic to this one, about a character who will be appearing later on in Choices, Change, and Fate. He's an OC designed by Spartan 10007, (in case you wanted proof of my willingness to accept ideas) with an interesting back story, so keep track of that as I post it so you have an idea of who he is when he appears later on.**

**Last but not least, I'm writing some one-shots that take place between Of the Night and the sequel, so if any of you have anything you'd like to read more about, let me know! I'll be posting the first of those, A New Baby Sister, very soon, so stay tuned.**

**Thanks again for reading :)**

**EDIT- _Of the Night: Silver_ is up, keep track of it, and enjoy it! You guys are awesome!**


	5. Chapter 5

Hiccup and Astrid sent out search party after search party, employing every tracking dragon on the island, day and night for weeks and weeks until-

"They're really gone." Hiccup said with some disbelief after Eret and Skullcrusher returned one night, both breathing hard.

Toothless wasn't faring much better. His son and Aeri had left without telling anyone where they were going or if they were even going to be back. Lightning tried to comfort him, but his anger simmered. _Of all the irresponsible…_

Shade's siblings didn't know what to make of it. Soturi and Skali were deeply saddened, while Storm was almost as angry as her father. What could have possessed their brother to run away like that? Only one dragon suspected the real reason Shade might have wanted to get away, but she couldn't bring herself to tell anyone about it. Ash blamed herself for being too harsh with Shade, but there was nothing she could do about it now. If she was honest with herself, she missed her best friend, and wished desperately that things could go back to the way they had been.

_But _he _was the one who had changed things! It wasn't her fault… right?_

Aeri's siblings were left reeling as well. Erik missed his older sister, but knew the implications of her disappearance. If she didn't come back… he hated to think about it. He had never wanted to be Chief. It just wasn't in his nature to be a leader. Was he more of a follower? Not exactly. He did his own thing, and preferred to be left alone, unless he was with Storm. Alyka was frustrated, angered that her sister would leave them and upset their parents so deeply. Wren didn't quite understand what was going on, but she missed her sister, and she knew Skali was sad that her brother was gone, so Wren was sad, too.

Valka was upset in her own way. She understood why her beloved granddaughter had chosen to leave, but she also knew that disappearing was just as hard on the ones who had vanished as the ones who were left behind.

"I just hope that someday they'll return," she murmured to Cloudjumper, pressing her forehead against his. "I hope they will remember that Berk is, and always will be, their home."

As time passed, the village- both humans and dragons- went from feeling hopeful that the pair would return, to mournful that they had lost their leaders' heirs, to numb. A point passed at which no one could think about it anymore, so upsetting was the loss.

But life goes on. Hiccup could not afford to show weakness, even to his allies. Something changed in Astrid, though, at the loss of her daughter. She was still the wife, mother, daughter, and friend that she had been before, but… something was missing. As if when her child left, she took with her a piece of her mother's spirit. It was the same for Lightning. Grief took its toll on them all, hardening their hearts and burdening their souls even as they went about their lives as though nothing had changed.

Three years passed this way, until change found them once again.

* * *

><p><strong>Just so you all know, this story will focus equally on human and dragon characters, so don't get put out if I go in depth one way or another for a while. It will all balance out, so have patience with my people. :)<strong>

**Review! And remember to keep up with OtN: Silver. It's gonna be good!**


	6. Chapter 6

When Aeri left, she took not only a few blankets and some clothes, some food and water, her spear and daggers, and some simple tools, but all of her jewelry as well. The finest crafted gold and silver, fitted with gems and precious stones. All had been gifts from her father, who knew that while she never really wore any of it, she loved to look at it, and had a fascination with the way light reflected off the pieces since she had been a little girl. Her parents always joked that she was "more dragon than human" which suited her just fine.

Now, she used it to barter for supplies. Stifling the regret she felt, she pried apart the pieces, separating the stones from their settings and melting the metal in the heat from Shade's plasma, forming rough coins.

The only piece she found she couldn't part with was a simple necklace, a thin gold chain with a teardrop pendant made of a gem the exact same color as her eyes. It had been a gift from her father on her seventeenth birthday. So she kept it around her neck, underneath the armor she crafted for herself whenever she had access to a forge. That took some more bartering, but fortunately she could get away with constructing and trading simple gadgets that people had never seen before. A spring-loaded box with a toy man inside, which popped open when you turned a handle on the side, was a particular favorite of one ruler, who ordered her to make ten for his young, rather spoiled son.

During the day, she had Shade stay out of sight, far up the coast from the towns she would trade in. For they never ventured far from the sea, knowing that it was their only connection to home. _Not their home, _Aeri thought with some anger. _Not anymore._ At night, she would return to Shade, and work on crafting what she needed out of the supplies she got while sharing whatever food he had managed to catch that day.

This system worked well for them as they traveled farther east, sometimes spending months in one place, sometimes hours. They encountered strange dragons and humans, some friendly, others not so much. Occasionally, Aeri found work removing dragon "pests" from particular regions, which generally meant Shade giving the reptiles a convincing talk slash demonstration of his plasma blast to encourage them to find food in places other than human settlements.

They passed over vast stretches of ocean, sometimes not seeing land for days at a time. Aeri became leaner and more muscular, as did Shade, who apparently hadn't finished growing yet. A year and a half into their journey he had grown to be larger than his father, thirty-three feet long, nose to tailfin. This didn't help with stealth during the day, but at night he was in his element, which wasn't much of a surprise to either of them. And his size also enabled him to carry a great deal of, well, stuff. Weapons, clothes, supplies- they found themselves in every manner of situation and climate, and Aeri always had a cache of tradable goods for when they encountered other humans.

Slowly, she developed a look for herself, based on her father's flight suit and her grandmother's armor. First a chest plate, made of leather. Flexible and light, she also perfected a way to stiffen and pad certain parts of the material to protect her better. She and Shade sometimes ran into trouble with the occasional bandit gang or, even more troublesome, dragon trappers. They made short work of their adversaries, but it always paid to be cautious and prepared. Her leather leggings were also flexible, part of the leather and cloth body suit she had made to wear underneath her other armor, and she employed the same stiffening and padding method to protect her legs. Thick gauntlets protected her forearms, while thin gloves disguised her skin and kept her fingers warm at high altitudes. Her father's gauntlets possessed a sheath on each arm, one for a knife, and one for a charcoal pencil, but Aeri's design incorporated hidden sheaths all over her armor for daggers of various sizes, because she liked to have options. The rest of her outfit, including shoulder armor, pockets, and boots- were all after her father's design.

Lastly, her helmet. Not every culture they ran into treated women as equally as Viking society did. So she disguised herself with a mask like her father's, that also wrapped around her entire head so she could tuck her fast-growing hair into it, and covered her face while allowing her to breathe. The collar of the body suit she wore beneath her armor reached all the way up to her chin and hairline when unfolded, which served to hide her skin when her helmet was in place. A ridge from the forehead of the helmet all the way down to where it ended at the back of her neck was just another unspoken tribute to her father's influence. As a finishing touch, she added light metal pieces in the shape of wings coming off her temples, just to satisfy her creative side. Thanks to her height, her helmet, and the thickness of her chest plate, no one suspected she was female, and when the entire ensemble was in place, no one could even guess remotely what she looked like.

Aeri saved each of the scales that Shade lost, keeping them in a small pouch until she had enough to begin adding them to her own armor. She thought they added a nice bit of flair as well as reinforcement. Carefully, she attached them in rows down her gauntlets, with the notion that she could potentially deflect a strike from a sword or other metal weapon, if she were quick enough.

One day, as Aeri walked through a village on an island they had discovered in a stretch of shallow turquoise sea, she ran into a spot of trouble. She had wrapped a thin veil of fabric around her face to hide her light skin, for the people here were more tan than the pale Vikings in the north. She didn't bother disguising her gender, though. Just as many women were present as men, so she figured it would be harmless to venture out without her slightly bulky armor, as comfortable as it was. The climate was warmer and more humid, so she appreciated the opportunity to take off the leather and wear a light tunic and long skirt she had procured not long ago.

She had learned to be careful when bartering using what remained of her jewelry, which she kept close in a small pouch up her sleeve. Most people left her well enough alone, especially if she flashed the hilt of the dagger she had tucked into her waistband. But sometimes, the allure of valuables proved stronger than common sense, and Aeri had been forced to defend herself before. Generally, this was no problem. After all, her mother had trained her to be as strong and capable as any man, if not more so. But exotic weapons took a little getting used to, and she suffered a few cuts and bruises along the way. All in all, though, she and Shade were remarkably lucky, and they knew it.

Today, she had traded some of her gadgets for some fresh fruit and new, brightly colored fabrics, which she stowed in a large bag she had constructed near the beginning of their journey. The sun was setting, and clouds were gathering overhead, so she bid farewell to the last smiling merchant she had visited. He had been a procurer of exotic stones, and Aeri couldn't resist looking over his wares, and trading one of her own stones for a shiny piece of a deep blue gem.

Walking away, she didn't notice the merchant's smile fade as he whispered something to his assistant, who immediately ran off toward the docks.

Shifting the bag on her back, Aeri made her way towards the jungle, to a barely visible path that would lead her back to Shade.

Without warning, a shadow loomed behind her, and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her around roughly. Aeri peered up into the grimy face of an enormous man with yellowish skin, who smiled maliciously, exposing several missing teeth. Behind him was another man his size, along with a skinnier, pale, rat-looking man. All stunk of salt, and Aeri figured that they must be sailors of some kind, desperate for something valuable to pawn in the marketplace for a good time.

"Where do you think you're going, love?" The rat man sneered.

Aeri didn't speak, she simply tried to pull away from the giant man's grip, which didn't budge.

"We have it on good authority that you might have something shiny for us. Is that true?" he stepped closer, licking his chapped lips.

"I have nothing," she said, deepening her voice to try and remain anonymous.

In a flash the man pulled back his arm and slapped her, hard.

"Don't _lie _to me, girl!"

Aeri slowly turned her head back to face him, her patience wearing thin. "I suggest you gentlemen release me and go back to where you came from, before things get ugly."

"Too bad we ain't gentlemen," the rat man said contemptuously.

"Please," she said, trying to control her anger. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt _us?_ Do you hear this whore?" he cackled, and the large men smiled stupidly, laughing along with him.

"Alright," he said, his smile fading in an instant. "If you won't hand it over, we'll just have to take it from you." Leering, he raised his arm to hit her again, and Aeri snapped. Reaching up, she twisted the arm of the large man holding her, flipping him up over her shoulder and smashing him face first against the ground. In a flash she leapt up and kicked the other giant in the side of the head, sending him crumpling to the ground. Whipping around, she reached out and grabbed the rat man by his throat and lifted him up by the collar of his shirt.

"I warned you," she said calmly, before hauling back and punching him hard in the nose, instantly breaking it. He cried out and his hands flew to his face as blood gushed from his nose, and she dropped him, wiping her hand on her skirt with disgust.

"When your friends wake up, I would recommend that you all find a place to bathe."

With that, she turned and darted into the jungle.

On the docks, a woman with a spyglass watched the display with growing amusement and frustration. _Incompetent idiots. _

"Captain?"

Turning, she saw her first mate, and with a cold smile, ordered him to gather the men and head into the jungle.

* * *

><p>Aeri sprinted through the trees, leaping over ferns and other shrubbery. "Shade!" she called out, her scarf coming loose and falling off her head. She didn't turn back to get it. A loud rumble sounded nearby, and she turned, crashing into a small clearing.<p>

"Shade!" she gasped. "We gotta get out of here!" He stood, and quickly she packed up their small camp, throwing everything into the satchels along the side of his saddle. Finally, she tied down her bag containing her day's efforts, and quickly unwrapped her skirt, leaving her in a pair of thin fabric leggings and light boots, before stuffing it into one of the pouches. Thunder boomed in the distance, and glancing up, she realized that the sky was completely overcast with black clouds.

She was about to jump onto his shoulders when Shade growled deeply, dropping into a defensive crouch.

"Isn't this an interesting sight?"

Aeri turned slowly at the sound of a woman's voice, her hands still on Shade's neck, to see half a dozen burly men pointing weapons of various kinds at her.

"I've never seen a dragon like that before. He looks… _powerful_." Aeri's gaze focused on a person standing between the men, as though being guarded by them. She could see that the woman wore black pants and boots, over which was thrown a deep red coat decorated with intricate embroidery. But her face was cast in shadows.

"What do you want?" Aeri said harshly, accented by a low hiss from Shade.

"Oh, not much. Wealth. Power. The usual." She could hear a smile in the woman's tone.

"Then you don't need anything from us."

"Oh, on the contrary. You see, we are… _traders. _And we deal in various commodities, each more rare than the last."

"We have no such _commodities,_" she spat.

"That's where you're wrong. Your dragon there-" Shade growled ferociously, and some of the men glanced at each other nervously. "- would fetch us quite a price, wouldn't you say, boys?"

"Oh, _yes, _Captain." The rat-like man stepped around the group of men, sporting two black eyes and a bloodstained shirt.

"Silence, Currel."

"You'll find that my dragon here won't be so easily persuaded."

"Oh, I certainly doubt we could hope to capture him. But we _could _capture you." The hidden woman waved an arm. "Get her."

One man threw a spear right at Aeri, but before she could react a dark sheet enveloped her, pressing her to the ground. She heard Shade snarl with pain as the weapon struck his hind leg, and she leapt from his hold to scramble onto his back, narrowly avoiding another spear.

"Time to go, Shade!"

The Night Fury crouched and leapt skyward, barely escaping the strike of a steel broadsword. Aeri leaned low over his neck as he lifted his wings up to blast away when a whirring sound caught her attention. Looking back, she ducked out of the way of a shining silver disc, spinning in a blur through the air. But the edge of it sliced through the arm of her tunic, leaving a painful gash. She gritted her teeth, and Shade brought his wings down, sending them away with a loud _boom_, echoed by the thundering clouds above.

Watching as the pair shot away, the large men grumbled, waving their weapons in frustration. The rat-faced man shrieked his outrage.

But Surmata Veri slowly grinned behind her scarf, arm still outstretched from throwing her disc.

_The hunt was on._

* * *

><p><strong>YOU GUYS I saw a really incredible female version of Hiccup on Tumblr and she looks almost exactly like Aeri is supposed to look. Seriously. Just search "Artist Em gender swap Hiccup" and it should come up (it doesn't let me post links on here.)<strong>

**Also, in case you haven't noticed, I update the sequel on Fridays and _Silver _on Mondays. Look forward to more James while you wait for more Shade and Aeri! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

The storm raged around them, lightning flashing immediately after the deafening roll of thunder. Aeri's thin tunic and leggings were completely soaked, and she shivered, holding onto the saddle for dear life.

_Who were those people? _she wondered, reaching up with her left arm to push her sopping wet hair out of her eyes. Not that it mattered. She couldn't see past the sheets of driving rain and the black clouds around them anyways. Absently, she noticed that she couldn't feel her right hand, and glancing down, she saw that her knuckles were white from how tightly she was gripping the saddle. Looking up her arm, she was confused for a moment by the dark stain that had spread from her shoulder down to below her elbow, until vaguely it occurred to her that the stain was blood. _Her _blood.

Suddenly lightheaded, she numbly reached down to the strap she rarely used, wrapping it around her waist to secure herself to the saddle. "Shade…"

Shade heard his name faintly spoken, and he looked back, shocked to see how pale Aeri was. Noticing the dark stain on her sleeve, he immediately understood. _They had to find land. _But where was land in this hurricane?

Aeri slouched forward, and sheer terror raced through his heart. Letting out a panicked roar, he renewed his efforts, bringing his wings down hard, blasting forward again and again until his strength was almost gone.

Suddenly the rain stopped, and the atmosphere lightened, until they broke free of the wall of black clouds. The light of the moon left a white trail along the water far below them. Looking around, he could barely distinguish where the ocean ended and the sky began, the calm sea perfectly reflecting the stars in the night. Desperately he searched the horizon for some sign of land, knowing with a sinking feeling that the land they had been following was now far behind them.

Minutes passed, and not knowing what to do, Shade continued his course, looking back and seeing the enormous storm stretching as far as he could see in either direction. _So, forward._

Then he spied it. Just a smudge of darkness, so slim he almost missed it. But the longer he focused on it, the clearer it got.

Land.

_Hold on, Aeri._


	8. Chapter 8

She awoke to the sound of birds chirping.

Her eyes opened, and she took in a paneled ceiling, open windows, with white curtains stirring in the gentle breeze. She was in a bed, with a thin sheet draped over her.

Aeri didn't know where she was, or how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was flying through the storm, and blood, and Shade- _Shade!_

Panicking, she sat up in bed, resisting the dizziness that overcame her. Sliding across the mattress, she almost hissed when a sharp pain shot through her shoulder. Glancing down, she saw a thick white bandage over where the strange disc had hit her.

She threw her feet over the edge of the bed and stood up, taking small steps forward, nearly to the window, when she heard footsteps approaching the closed door.

* * *

><p>Shade hadn't known what else to do. He'd landed roughly in the shallow salt water, dragging himself onto the beach with Aeri strapped to his back. Panting heavily, it took him a moment to take in their surroundings.<p>

It was a few hours before dawn. They were on a silty, stony beach, coming out of a forest of tall trees not unlike the ones on Berk. The water was somewhat chilly, but nothing like it was up north.

Rumbling with concern, he tried to wake his rider.

"Aeri?"

No response.

He growled his frustration. Her heartbeat was faint but steady, he could feel it where her chest pressed against his neck. Slowly, he tilted his body, wincing at the soreness in his hind leg, allowing her to slide off, still hooked to the strap that connected her to the saddle. He tried to use his claws to cut her free, but the leather was just beyond his reach.

He growled again, loudly, then froze. Faintly, he could hear human voices, calling out.

_They could help Aeri. _

But if they saw him, they might kill them both.

Desperately he turned again, stretching his paw as far as he could, extending his claws. _Almost-_

"I heard it coming from over here!"

_Time's up._

He watched from just beyond the edge of the forest as the humans rounded the curve of the beach and caught sight of his human, unconscious on the shore.

"Hey! There's a person over there!"

Quickly the group ran over, checking her pulse. "She's alive!"

"What's this strange leather strap?"

"Does it matter? We've got to get her to Vahna."

The humans gently lifted her up, careful to avoid her injured arm, and started jogging back the way they came.

Following them under the cover of the trees, Shade soon caught sight of their village, overlooking the ocean, about the same size as the village on Berk, with a dock below where a number of ships were berthed. He noted that there were several large constructions on offshore rocks, that looked like… catapults. _Interesting. _How had he missed them? He must have flown right over all of that. But the men, also carrying spears and nets, took a different path, one leading into the forest. Curious, he followed them, worried that they might have changed their minds about helping his rider. Then, through the trees in the pre-dawn light, he spied the lights of a house among the trees, nestled in a small clearing a ways from the village. The first man knocked urgently on the door, and soon it opened. They carried Aeri inside, closing the door, and he had to stifle the urge to barrel into the house and make sure she was alright.

_Please be okay_, he thought fervently._ Please be okay._

* * *

><p>Aeri stumbled slightly, landing a little roughly from jumping out the window. As quietly as she could, she crept barefoot through the leaves and pine needles to hide behind a large tree trunk, listening carefully.<p>

"What- where'd she go?"

"I don't know… Vahna!"

The sound of their footsteps faded as they left the room, and Aeri took the chance to run for it, ignoring the sharp pains in the soles of her feet from the various sticks and rocks littering the ground. The ground sloped slightly upwards, and she was soon panting, her dizziness beginning to overtake her. With a grunt she shoved her way through the foliage of a large bush, and she stumbled out into a small meadow.

Small birds took off, chirping loudly, startled by her arrival. A small stream ran through the hip-high grass, trickling and shining in the soft sunlight. Purple butterflies fluttered in pursuit of each other, and she watched them, slightly mesmerized as she caught her breath.

Thinking analytically, she surveyed the space, deeming it a suitable site for a camp. There was a source of water, it was well hidden by thick brush, and one side was completely walled off by a high stretch of light gray rock. No one could sneak up on her without alerting her to their presence.

There was only one thing missing. _Now, to find- _A deep rumble caught her off guard as she stepped farther into the meadow, and quickly she turned, deeply aware that she had no way of defending herself.

Relief washed over her like water. "Shade!"

Her dragon bounded out from the shadows beneath the trees, blue eyes shining with emotion. She lifted her uninjured arm and he pressed his forehead against hers, warbling his concern as she stroked his neck.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Shade." He began sniffing her, focusing on her bandage, before examining her head to toe. For the first time, Aeri realized that she only wore a thin night shift, clearly made for someone much shorter than herself. It barely reached halfway down her thighs, and there was nothing underneath it, not even leggings.

"Do you still have…" he turned, showing her all of the bags still strapped to his back, along with her spear. "Thank the gods."

Quickly she began rummaging through them, pulling out her armor. With her hurt arm, it would be a challenge, but she felt confident that eventually she'd get it on. She never wanted to feel so exposed again. Now she understood why her father wore his armor every day. Being caught without it could be disastrous.

A while later, she straightened, gently strapping down the shoulder pad over her injured shoulder. She'd removed the bandages, relieved to see that the cut was a clean one, and that there was no sign of infection. Whoever had cared for her had also done a neat job stitching the wound, so she had no complaint there. Fortunately, she carried bandages and salve of her own in one of the bags on Shade's saddle, and she efficiently re-wrapped it, tearing off the extra strip of fabric with her teeth. She avoided moving it too much, not wanting to stretch or pop her stitches.

Tucking the nightshift into one of the bags, Aeri wandered over to the stream, crouching down and cupping her hands in the cool mountain water before splashing some on her face. After drinking several handfuls, she stood and followed its winding path, finding a small pool of clean, still water mostly prevented from moving on because of a pile of stones. Leaning over, Aeri looked at her reflection, realizing that her hair was an unbelievable mess. She ran her fingers through the chaos, trying to work out some of the knots. _Why didn't she carry a hairbrush?_

Eventually, she had it tamed to some semblance of what it used to look like. It had been nearly two years since the night she had impulsively cut it, and an impressive amount had grown back. Now her auburn locks reached down past her shoulder blades. She was pleased that the small braids she had made were still intact, although they served to remind her of her father's hair. Her mother always liked to leave little sections of his shaggy mop in braids, for some reason.

With a sigh, she made her way back towards the rock wall, where the grass was highest. Theoretically, Shade could flatten himself against the ground and hide himself there if need be. Aeri also liked that she could keep an eye on the entire clearing.

She had her dragon stomp around on the grass, creating a flat, padded surface for her to lay some blankets down on. _Much nicer than some of the other places they'd slept. _The sky was clear, but Aeri figured that if it rained, she could just have Shade cover her with his wing. _He'd probably do that anyways._ They both liked to sleep in, although they rarely had the opportunity to do so.

Lighting a fire probably wasn't the smartest idea, so Aeri found a flat rock, and with Shade's help, dragged it over to their small campsite. Anything they hunted could be roasted there with the dragon's white hot plasma.

Aeri, noticing Shade staring blankly at nothing, realized how tired her dragon must be. "Nap time, bud?"

He nodded, and yawned.

"Let me get all that stuff off your back." She figured that this would be a safe enough place to stay for a few days. They weren't particularly close to the beach, so no pirates would know they were there, and Aeri felt sufficiently confident that they were far enough from those other humans to avoid detection. Besides, they had no idea where they were. Even though she had passed out, she was sure that they had been blown far off course by that storm.

Leaving Shade's saddle on, just in case, Aeri piled all her bags up nearby, keeping her spear close. _You never know. _

Later, they both awoke with rumbling stomachs. "I think we need to find something to eat." She'd had bread and dried meat in her bags but found that both were slightly disintegrated from the storm. Her fruit, however, was still intact, and with a bubble of optimism she pulled out a few, cutting them into slices with her knife. They were large with soft yellow flesh inside a green peel. Slowly, she bit into a slice, and found it sweet and juicy. _Score! _

Mouth full, she offered Shade a slice. He sniffed it, and took it delicately from her fingers, chewing on it thoughtfully. Finally, he shrugged, causing Aeri to laugh. Her dragon had quite the sweet tooth, but liked to pretend he didn't care one way or another. Grinning, she tossed him a whole one, which he devoured quickly, licking his lips.

When a deer wandered into the meadow, Aeri silently picked up her spear. Truth be told, she really didn't like hunting. Taking lives just wasn't her thing. To add to that, they both preferred fish. But they had to eat, especially Shade. They could fish another time. So, she crouched and crept through the grass, unheard as the breeze rippled through the meadow. Once she was close enough, she leapt to her feet and expertly threw her spear before the deer could even react. It found its mark with deadly accuracy, and Shade got up to help her move it closer to their little camp.

A little while after that, they were both chewing on tender venison in companionable silence, when a chorus of high-pitched squeaks sounded nearby.

Something rustled in the bushes at the edge of the meadow, and Aeri slowly set down the stick holding her meat and picked up her spear. Shade brought his legs underneath him, ready to leap to his feet if need be. For a moment, nothing happened, then they both spied the barest of quivering in the tall grass, moving towards them. With a low growl, Shade bared his teeth, prepared to defend his human.

Suddenly, the movement stopped. Holding her breath, Aeri listened carefully. Birds were still chirping in the surrounding trees, butterflies still fluttering about. The sun was setting, casting shadows over the meadow. A moment passed, and she was about to sit back down when the grass rustled loudly right next to them. Alarmed, she jumped to her feet, spear arm raised, when-

_Squeak squeak! _A brown and green dragon, about the size of a Terrible Terror, emerged from the grass, clearly drawn by the scent of their kill. Relieved, Aeri released the breath she didn't know she had been holding, and dropped into a crouch, setting her spear on the ground and grabbing a small piece of meat.

"Hey little fella," she crooned. "You hungry?"

Hesitantly, it came forward, sniffing loudly. Smelling her hand, it quickly snatched up the piece of meat, swallowing it whole. _Squeak squeak! _Three more emerged from the grass, all various shades of green and brown, all sniffing loudly. Shade gave a low growl, and the small dragons gave him a wide berth, approaching Aeri, who sat in front of the remains of the deer.

"So you brought friends to the party, huh? I guess that's fine." Without looking away from them, she tossed each of them a piece of meat, all of which were immediately devoured. One inched towards Shade, whose dinner was piled in front of him. A loud snarl quickly dissuaded the small dragon from getting any closer, so Aeri, feeling generous, tossed each of them another piece.

When she went to sit by Shade again, the small dragons trailed after her, coming to gather around her and quickly fall asleep. Smiling, she finished off her own dinner, tossing the blackened stick far into the grass. Leaning back, she rested her head on her dragon's side, feeling every movement as he finished his meal.

Contentedly, they all rested there as the sun set. The night had begun to creep overhead, revealing twinkling stars, when suddenly all the little dragons, which she had affectionately named "Horrible Horrors", sat up, staring out in the same direction.

"What is it?" But they were stiff, as though in a trance. Behind her, Shade began to shake his head, as though fending off some invisible assailant. "Shade?"

The Horrors spread their wings and took off, flapping in the direction they were staring. Over the sounds of her dragon's grumbling, Aeri heard the first distant roar, and with a sinking feeling, realized that they might have a problem on their hands.

Leaping to her feet, she darted around to place her hands on Shade's head, shouting at him.

"Block it out, Shade! Remember, you belong to the Alpha. Whatever controls these dragons can't stand up against the Alpha!"

Gradually he calmed, opening his eyes to reveal large pupils. He gave her a small toothless smile in gratitude, and she smiled back, until they were both disturbed by another, louder roar, followed by a number of shrieks. _A dragon attack. _There were humans on this island, somewhere down the hill. They would be in danger, and if they weren't, these dragons were.

"Come on, Shade. Let's see what's going on."

She grabbed her helmet, quickly tucking her hair into it before jumping onto her dragon's shoulders. Her bags would probably be fine. Spreading his bat-like wings, Shade leapt into the air, joining the flock of dragons heading as they flew towards their unknown destination.

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><p><strong>I wonder what happens next. :) Review, friends! <strong>


	9. Chapter 9

Haku stood outside of his father's home, gazing at the heavens. No torches lit the darkness around him, so he had a clear view of the strange dusting of light that was scattered through the sky, almost like a stream of tiny stars. For once, he didn't feel burdened, didn't feel stressed or frustrated with life. Breathing in the cool night air, he listened to the sounds of the village.

Most everyone had returned to their homes at this point, generally wishing to spend time with their families and get as much sleep as possible before dawn. The men and women on watch greeted each other cheerfully as they passed each other in the street. In the distance, he could hear the clanking of metal against metal, and he couldn't help but smile. His sister, Vasara, was the village smith, and she often spent late nights at the forge, crafting weapons and armor, always trying to improve her skill and the quality of her work.

His other sister, Maara, was in the house behind him, watching over their father. Haku's smile faded as he thought of _that _situation. What he wouldn't give to-

He froze. There was no wind.

The hammering had ceased, and the village sat in eery silence.

Then he heard the first one. Echoes in the distance. Haku waited, holding his breath, until-

_ROAR! _

The sound carried over the village, and Haku unfroze, beginning to shout. "Guards! Warriors!To your positions!"

The sounds of doors flying open mingled with the flapping of wings and shrieks of monsters. Shouts from the villagers were drowned out by streams of fire, blasting apart buildings and freeing terrified animals from their enclosures.

_Vasara. _Haku dashed into his house, shouting at Maara to stay where she was, before running out of his house with his long bow to see even more dragons swarming above the village, swooping low to grab stampeding livestock. "Get your cattle!" he shouted. "Get your-"

An explosion sent him tumbling forwards, landing hard on his side. Scrambling to his feet, he dashed down the street, dodging fireballs and debris as the villagers ran out to fight for their lives. Overhead, a large rock smashed into two Grimlers, sending both tumbling from the sky. The men had gotten to the catapults. _Good. Maybe they had a chance, now. _

"Vasara!" he called out. "VASARA!"

"Haku!"

Looking to his left, he saw his sister running out, battle hammer swinging at an orange Raptortongue attempting to carry off a stray sheep. Sliding an arrow from its quiver, Haku quickly drew back and released it, his aim true.

It struck the beast in the side of its face, not really harming it, but startling it enough so that it dropped the sheep, giving Vasara the opportunity to lift her hammer, about to bring it down on the dragon's skull, when-

He heard it. A building whistle, growing in intensity. Haku had never heard anything like it, and looked at the sky, confused. He could see nothing besides the swarming dragons, just a few stars twinkling through billowing smoke and the moon high above. _Wait a minute… _Something passed in front of the moon and he immediately shouted to them all, "Find cover!"

Even as he spoke the whistle reached a deafening pitch before-

_BOOM_.

The sky exploded into light and Haku instinctively ducked, hearing the desperate screams of the villagers. Looking up, he frantically searched for where the blast must have hit when he heard it again…

"Get down!"

Another blast, blue in color, lit the sky. Then another, then another. Slowly, Haku looked up from his position on the ground, and stared in awe.

The dragons were leaving. Whatever it was causing those explosions, it wasn't attacking the village. It was driving those monsters away. He stared up at the sky, willing _something _to appear, but all was black. The shrieks and roars of the dragons slowly faded, and Haku finally slung his bow across his back, walking out to inspect the damage.

Several structures had burnt completely to the ground, and several more were in the process of being extinguished. Loose livestock wandered around the streets, finally calming down. The younger children had come out to help with the efforts to carry water and herd animals back into their barns and corrals. Reaching the main square, Haku whistled, calling all the available villagers to join him there.

Slowly they trickled in, once all the fires had been extinguished. He called out for any injuries, but miraculously, no one was hurt. All in all, not the worst attack the village had ever suffered. Not by a long shot.

"Haku! What was that?"

"Yeah, what caused those explosions?!"

The villagers began clamoring for his attention and Haku raised both hands in the air, waving for them all to calm down. He walked into the center of the gathered villagers, who all stepped back a bit to listen to him speak.

"Now, I don't know what caused those explosions, or why it chose to fend off the dragons. We can only hope that it means us no harm, and that-" the sound of flapping wings caught his attention, and he paused, turning around just in time to see a massive shape swoop low over the square. Everyone screamed and ducked, then slowly came back up to their feet, looking around nervously at the sky.

When Haku looked up, though, he saw a strange figure standing right before him. Almost his height, wearing odd armor, and with a helmet that covered his entire head.

"What- who are you?" he cried, reaching back to grab his bow. In an instant, the figure was inches away from him, and he froze, looking down between their bodies. The blade of a dagger was visible in the torchlight, and Haku had to stop himself from trying to back away.

"Who are you?" he asked again, trying to sound as calm as possible. Around them, people had finally noticed the stranger, and were gasping and crying out in fear and outrage.

The stranger held up one hand and immediately the square fell silent. The blade retracted, and Haku relaxed ever so slightly. Turning around, the stranger began to speak, his voice muffled by his helmet.

"I am the one who saved you," he proclaimed.

"Really?" someone scoffed. "And how did you cause those explosions?"

"Please everyone," Haku called out to them, thinking of how quickly the stranger moved, quieting them down. "Let us hear him out."

"I myself did not cause the explosions. I can, however, introduce you to the one who did."

"Who… would that be?" Haku asked hesitantly, and the stranger turned back to face him.

"A living shadow. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself," he said casually. "But we chose to intervene, here, and if you would accept us, we can stop the dragon menace from ever returning. That is, if you so choose that path."

"What's the catch?" Haku couldn't keep the skepticism from his voice.

The stranger turned in a slow circle. "Be reminded, that my partner and I came with the sole intention of protecting you, and teaching you how to end the war between humans and dragons. We gain nothing from this arrangement but the knowledge that we have done a good deed. But," he paused, "to learn about your enemy, you must be willing to consort with your enemy."

Haku didn't think he liked where this was going. But the people were murmuring amongst themselves, clearly considering the stranger's offer. "Do you mean… a dragon?" he asked slowly, dreading the stranger's answer.

"Yes," he replied, to the shock of the entire village. "I mean a dragon." Before anyone could say anything else, he cupped his hand to where his mouth would be and let out a strange whistling sound. Within moments came once again the noise of flapping wings, and, nervous, people began to back away.

Haku stepped towards the stranger. "What do you think you're-"

The stranger held up a gloved hand, silencing him. "You have to trust me."

"Trust you? We don't even know you!"

"You will, soon enough."

With that, a massive black shape dropped from the night sky, concealing the stranger.

"What is… is that a…"

The creature opened its eyes, revealing a luminous shade of blue, before unfolding itself to reveal its true form.

It was a dragon unlike any Haku had ever seen. Black as night, with those _eyes_, and great, bat-like wings folding up against its back. Before it, the stranger had reappeared, and was looking right at Haku.

The villagers began to panic. Few of them were carrying weapons, yet they rushed to defend Haku all the same. But Haku wasn't paying attention to them. His gaze was locked with the dragon's, who seemed to be… reading him, understanding him, seeing his innermost thoughts.

"Wait!" he shouted, holding up his arms without breaking eye contact, and everyone froze. Everyone except for the stranger, who approached Haku once again.

"You ask that we trust you? _Both _of you?" Haku asked him incredulously.

"That is our condition."

Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he had a death wish. But there was something about this… this creature that struck him as nothing had ever done before.

"Do you swear that no harm will come to the village or its people?"

"I swear that my partner and I shall not harm anyone or anything in this village. You, on the other hand, might."

Haku shook his head. _This stranger was just a set of armor filled with mysteries._ "I'm not sure I know what you mean, but I suppose that your word will have to be enough. How can you prove that what you say is true? That you are trustworthy?"

The stranger stepped backwards until he was next to his dragon, and he patted it on its shoulder. "I'll prove my trustworthiness _and _the value of my assistance right here, right now."

"What would you have me do?"

The stranger nimbly leapt up onto the creature's shoulders and held out his hand.

"Haku, don't do it!" someone shouted.

"Please, Haku, what would your father say?"

And that's what did it. His father would say to kill the beast and send the stranger away. But Haku was not his father.

"Fine."

He strode over to the stranger and his dragon, who watched him with one enormous eye as he approached its side. He grabbed the stranger's hand, who promptly hauled him up behind him.

"Hold on," the stranger's muffled voice commanded, and hesitantly Haku brought his hands up to rest them on the stranger's back, glancing nervously around him, trying to ignore the devastated looks on the villager's faces.

The stranger murmured something that sounded like "gently" and patted the dragon's neck.

Slowly the dragon's extensive wings unfurled, barely making a sound. Haku felt the creature shift into a crouch, and he swallowed drily. _I hope this isn't a huge mista-_

His last thought was cut off as the dragon leapt skyward, beating its wings to gain altitude. Immediately, Haku wrapped his arms around the stranger's slim waist, not caring at all what the other man must think of him. Everything was a blur, whooshing past in the roar of the wind. Shutting his eyes tight, he held on for dear life until-

"Open your eyes."

Apprehensively, he did so, realizing that the dragon had leveled out and was flying smoothly through the gradually lightening sky. He glanced back over his shoulder, seeing the lights of his village receding in the distance until they soared above the clouds, blocking his view. Looking up at the fading stars, the closeness of the heavens took his breath away. For a while they drifted above the clouds, reveling in the last of the moonlight.

The dragon angled itself and Haku once again tightened his grip on the stranger, who seemed to be amused by his nervousness. A tiny thread of irritation wound through him at the stranger's presumptuousness, but quickly evaporated when he saw that they were descending towards the cloud cover.

"Um…" he said nervously, lifting one arm to point at the approaching mass.

The stranger did laugh then, an oddly musical sound, and then they entered the cloud. Shutting his eyes, Haku waited for something to hit them, but when he opened his eyes, he realized that they were surrounded by white. Hesitantly, he extended his hand, and realized that it was collecting beads of moisture. _Clouds were… made of water?!_

The stranger seemed to follow his train of thought, calling back to him, "There is so much to learn, Haku, if we only open our eyes to the possibilities of this world."

Haku didn't have time to wonder that the stranger had used his name. They broke free of the clouds, into the light of the rising sun. Barely peeking up over the horizon, it shone over the sea and earth, and Haku found that he was once again breathless, his chest filled with the sensation of extraordinary revelation.

"I never knew…" he said softly. The stranger nodded ever so slightly, and the dragon banked to the south, heading back over land, slowly spiraling back toward the village.

When they landed in the square, still full of terrified villagers, the stranger smoothly leapt from the dragon's back, holding up a hand to Haku. He gladly took it, clumsily sliding off and landing on shaking knees.

"Haku!" someone cried.

"Are you alright?"

"What are we going to do, Haku?"

"Send them away!"

Shouts began to fill the square, and still partially stunned, Haku lifted up his hands, quieting the people.

"People of Heimme!" he swallowed, wondering how to continue. "I just flew on the back of a dragon. A _trained _dragon, with a rider that deemed to spare our village from the menace we so often face. An experience I shall never forget, 'til the day I die." He looked over at the stranger, who stood with his hand resting on his dragon's shoulder. The creature was gazing at him with those incredible blue eyes, and Haku felt a strange peace wash over him.

"I, of all people, have good reason to fear, and even hate these creatures! But these two mean us no harm! I say, we should extend our trust, in the hopes that they might follow through with their promise to end the war we face."

The crowd was murmuring at his words, anxiously watching the scene unfold in the light of the dawn. Finally, Vahna, the old wise woman, stepped forward, and everyone quieted to hear her words.

"Haku," she said. "Since I was a child, the dragons have been our enemy. You wish for us to _befriend _one, to trust a stranger who clearly consorts with the enemy, in the hopes that they might actually want to help us." She paused, and everyone leaned in. Haku listened anxiously, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the stranger and his dragon.

"What would your father say, Haku?"

His anxiety disappeared, replaced with frustration. "With all respect, Vahna, I am not my father."

She nodded, seemingly expecting this answer. "As we all well know. I, for one, am nervous at the thought of what such an alliance might mean for our people. But," she continued, "I also believe that this stranger can be trusted. Call it intuition, if you wish, but something tells me that change has found us at last, and that our only hope lies with this stranger and her dragon."

The crowd broke into hushed conversations, but Haku just looked incredulously at the stranger, whose posture indicated some surprise, before quickly relaxing. 

Vahna continued, saying mysteriously, "I'm glad you are feeling better, stranger," before turning around. The crowd parted for her silently, and she made her way through them, followed by her two apprentices, who were trading knowing glances.

_Vahna had said,"her". _But the stranger was so tall! Thinking about it, though, he was on the slim side, and his chest armor was bulky enough to disguise any feminine features he- _she _might have.

"Stranger," Haku called. "If we are to trust you, I think we would all feel a little better if we could see your face."

The stranger didn't speak, only tilting his- _her-_ head, and a thread of unease wound through him. _What if he- she- is terribly scarred, or malformed? _But it was too late to take the request back, and slowly she nodded, before reaching up to remove her helmet.

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><p><strong>Welcome to Heimme. Aeri has pledged her assistance to these people... but what will that end up entailing? Stay tuned :) <strong>

**I hope you've all been reading _Silver _as well; although I won't be posting anything there for a bit, we certainly have not heard the last of James. **

**Questions? Comments? Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, friends!**

**Vvarden- I'm so glad you enjoy the story, but make sure you study for those exams, too ;) haha the gang will be here when finals are over. **

**dragonmaiden50- You make a very good point. So...**

**dragonmaiden50 said in a review that it would be nice to hear from some of the old crew again. I promise that someday, somehow, Aeri and Shade will return to Berk, and it will be _before _the end of the story. In the mean time, I hope you can find it within yourselves to enjoy the world I've been creating on Heimme, and the people who live there. **

**Cheers!**

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><p>Slowly Aeri removed her helmet, feeling terribly exposed. She felt her hair tumble down past her shoulders, and quickly finished pulling it off, trying not to look too defiant as she looked this <em>Haku <em>in the eyes.

His jaw had dropped, and all conversations had ceased. Insecurity wove through her, and she struggled to stop herself from climbing onto Shade and flying away as quickly as possible. She tightened her grip on her helmet, making a fist at her side with her other hand.

Her speech earlier had been a moment of impulsivity, and she worried now that she might come to regret her decision to pledge her assistance to these people. But something about the attack reminded her of the stories her parents used to tell her, and she felt she had no choice but to intervene. How the old woman had recognized her as female was beyond her understanding. _She must have been the one who found me. _But it was too late to change her mind.

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><p>She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Haku realized that his mouth was open, and he quickly shut it. Looking around, he saw that a few of the men had surprised looks of recognition on their faces. <em>Strange.<em>

"Where are you from, stranger?" he asked, attempting a smooth recovery.

"An island far to the north. Now, if you have seen enough, I must be on my way. Expect me tomorrow, midmorning."

Slightly stunned, he nodded, and she quickly leapt up to her dragon's shoulders, who immediately spread his wings, crouched, and took off, flying quickly over the forest and vanishing between the mountains.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. The entire village seemed to have something to say to him, and he struggled to answer their questions. Finally, when the last of the distraught people had wandered off, his sisters approached him.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Vasara said, a little grimly.

He could only shrug. "I hope I do, too." Turning to his other sister, he forced himself to ask, "How's Dad, Maara?"

"He's the same. Elama is watching him now. He woke up long enough for me to feed him some bread and water last night, before, well…"

"But he doesn't remember who he is, or where he is, or how to speak." Haku was frustrated. Everyone knew he didn't want to take his father's place, but since the attack more than three months ago, he'd been forced to assume many of the Chief's duties. Especially since his older sister, Lyse, the rightful heir to the chiefdom, had been killed the same night.

"I'm doing the best I can, Haku," his sixteen-year-old sister said, her voice trembling. Haku immediately softened.

"I know, Maara. I know. You're doing an incredible job. You know I just get grumpy and frustrated when I don't get enough sleep."

She smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know."

Haku lightly patted her on the shoulder, sending her on her way, before turning back to Vasara, who still looked deeply troubled.

"I know Vahna said we should trust her, but I still don't know, Haku."

"Listen. There is no way for us to avenge our sister's life, nor our father's… mind. We have to be realistic. The dragons will always be stronger than us. But this stranger, this woman, has crossed what we once saw as an impossible divide. Maybe the best thing we can do is honor the lives of those we have lost by doing our best to prevent the loss of anyone else."

Vasara looked down, battling her feelings. Finally she looked up, her gaze filled with emotion that she didn't usually show. "I trust Vahna, and I trust you. I don't trust this stranger, not yet, but I suppose if she wanted to hurt us, she would have already destroyed us. I've never seen a dragon like that before."

Haku thought of the creature's vivid blue eyes, piercing his very soul. "Neither have I," he said quietly. "Neither have I."

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><p>Leaving a nervous Shade at the clearing, Aeri picked her way back down the mountain, attempting to retrace the path she had followed on her way up. Finally, after a few questionable turns, she saw through the trees a familiar structure, with open windows.<p>

Quietly she crept around it, ducking beneath one of the downstairs windows and listening in. The two younger women from the square were chatting, and Aeri heard the sound of splashing water. They were probably washing dishes or clothes, distracted. _That meant the older woman, Vahna, must be upstairs. _Making no sound, Aeri jumped up, grabbing hold of one of the shingles on the side of the house with her fingertips. She had become an expert at climbing things that really had no business being climbed.

Fortunately, the wood on the side of the house was uneven, giving her easy footholds to clamber up and silently roll through the window.

Standing, she gazed at the old woman's back. She was sitting at a table on the other side of the bed, drawing or writing something, Aeri couldn't tell. Before she went any closer, though-

"I suppose if you were going to kill me, you already would have done so."

"Yes."

"To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Are you the one who found me?"

"No, but I am the one who sewed you up and got some food and water down your throat."

"How did you recognize me?"

"Who else would you be?"

_Fair enough. _Aeri walked closer, peering over the old woman's shoulder, doing her best not to gasp in surprise.

Before her was an incredibly detailed sketch of Shade, just as he was about to take off. On his back were two figures, one masked, and the other looking slightly terrified. _Is that what she looked like? _She was… slightly intimidating_. Good. _A small smile curved on her face.

"Where is your dragon?"

"He's up the mountain, nervously waiting for me to return."

"You should bring him by sometime. I'd… like to get to know him."

Aeri was surprised. "Okay, I will." After a brief pause, she spoke again. "I just can't figure out how I got here."

Vahna finally turned around, piercing Aeri with sharp blue-gray eyes. "Some fishermen found you on the beach before dawn with a strange leather strap around your waist that had been torn away from whatever it was attached to. You were half covered in blood and barely breathing, so they brought you to me."

"I must be grateful to them and you. I don't know what Shade would do without me," she said with a smile. The old woman searched her face, looking for something, before her face crinkled into an answering smile.

"Shade? What an appropriate name."

"Far more appropriate than his father's."

"Which would be?"

"Toothless."

"Is he actually-"

"No. Technically."

"Interesting. So there are more of these dragons where you come from?"

"Yes. For a long time, before I was born, there was believed to be only one, but it turns out that there's an entire island full of them a few days to the southwest."

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, hmm?"

"You heard that?" Aeri laughed.

"_Everyone _heard it. While it might not have gained you many fans, it certainly garnered some respect."

"I could care less about anyone respecting me. I hardly deserve it. But Shade is a noble and fierce being, from a line of powerful, dangerous dragons. Night Furies, as they are called on Berk. They were the stuff of legends, nightmares… until one human decided to bridge the gap, to throw down his weapon and rescue the one that had been shot down, the supposed _last _one, thus beginning the formation of a deep and unbreakable bond. The two defeated impossible foes together, becoming heroes, legends in their own rights."

"That's a very interesting story."

"It happened within your lifetime."

"Are they still alive?"

"Yes."

"Who was the dragon?"

"Shade's father."

"And who was the human?"

"Mine."

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><p>Later on, mid-afternoon, Aeri and Vahna were still deep in conversation. It had been a long time since Aeri had actually had a real conversation with a human being. Asti and Alkaa, Vahna's apprentices, had come upstairs to bring Vahna tea, and nearly dropped the kettle and cup when they saw Aeri.<p>

"Come on in, girls," Vahna had said, waving a hand. "This is the dragon rider."

The two quickly overcame their shyness and began hesitantly asking questions.

"How old are you?"

"Does your dragon have a name?"

"Where are you from?"

"Are you really here to help us?"

Aeri didn't know how to respond, still not wishing to share her name or her past, until Vahna intervened. "Alright, girls. Let's not overwhelm our guest. Take the rest of the afternoon off, just don't forget to bring some flour back from the village."

Once they were back on their own, Vahna asked Aeri: "Where is Berk?"

"I… I don't know." She told Vahna of the pirates, then of the storm that had landed her and Shade on Heimme.

"So you are lost." Then she asked the question Aeri had been hoping to evade. "What is your name?"

Aeri thought about it, before answering slowly. "I lost it when I left home."

"Well, we must call you something, Rádgatá." _Mystery. _

"I will only take a name I have earned."

The old woman paused, clearly thinking. "Perhaps you will appreciate this, then."

After considering for a moment, Aeri decided it was the most fitting name that could have been chosen for her. As she made her way back up the mountain alone, it resonated in her mind, and strengthened her resolve.

This is who she had become. Because of her choices, because of her very nature. This was who she was now.

_Missti Einn. _Lost One.

* * *

><p>Haku anxiously watched the skies. It was about midmorning, so he waited for the stranger and her dragon to appear.<p>

His house was backed up against the forest, with the ocean on the left and the village to the front and to the other side, so he figured he would see her coming no matter which direction she came from. Haku stood on the deck, which wrapped around the entire structure, facing out towards the village. He was situated near the door, in case Maara needed something.

Slowly his mind began to wander. _What was her name? Could she really be trusted? She said she was from the north. Where? What other surprises were in store for Heimme with this alliance?_

Something made him pause. A feeling. The feeling of being watched. A chill ran down his spine, and slowly, he turned around.

Just a few feet behind him, leaning against the outside of the house with her arms crossed, the stranger looked completely at ease. Haku, on the other hand, nearly jumped out of his skin. "How long have you been there?!"

Pushing herself off the wall, she closed the distance between them, her footsteps making no sound on the deck. "Long enough. Do you often daydream?"

"How did you know I was daydreaming?"

"I didn't."

_Damn. _"Very clever. Where is your dragon?"

She looked thoughtful. "He's around here somewhere. I told him not to eat anyone, but he has a habit of _not _listening to me."

"That's not funny!"

"Who said it was?"

_Damn it again. _"So." Haku ground out. "What are we doing today?"

"Trust exercises," she said mysteriously, fluidly grabbing the railing on the deck and swinging herself over it to land gracefully on the ground below. Dusting off her hands, she began to walk towards the village.

"Wait!" Haku shouted, running to catch up. "You're just going to walk into the village like you _didn't _ride a _dragon _out of here yesterday?"

"Yes?"

"Ugh." Then they walked past the first row of houses. At first, no one paid them any notice, but then, people began to whisper, turning their heads as they passed. By the time they got to the village square, half the population of Heimme was gathered, watching with curiosity, fear, and distrust.

The stranger hadn't looked at anything as they passed. Her gaze remained level, eyes forward. If it were anyone else, Haku would say that they were ignoring everything. But with her, he got the sense that she was taking everything in.

"Well," he said, slightly nervous. "We're in the middle of the village, with most of the villagers present to see what wonders you will perform for us today."

She finally took her eyes off whatever it was she was focusing on and swung her gaze to meet his. Her eyes were green, and they glittered with something Haku couldn't identify. "Perform?" she asked.

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, I think I do." Turning she looked out at the crowd, scanning their faces with her steady gaze. "Hello."

No one said anything. Her serious expression slowly became a small smile, and Haku found himself mesmerized by the change.

"I hope that someday, when I greet you, you will not be afraid to return the gesture." Some of the people looked a little embarrassed. Heimme's people prided themselves on their hospitality, not that many people came to visit. Trading ships came several times a year, with captains and crews longing for a comfortable place to eat a hearty meal and get a good night's sleep. But was this stranger someone to be welcomed?

The stranger seemed to sense this. "Do not worry. I am not used to being welcomed, as I either arrive at my destinations disguised or with a large, firebreathing reptile at my side. Let me tell you firsthand, not many people stop to say hello to _that._" A few people laughed, unable to help themselves, and her smile widened, until almost everyone was drawn in.

_What kind of power was this? _Haku wondered.

"I know I have done little to gain your trust. Granted, I didn't kill your Chief's son yesterday, so that must place a mark in my favor. But overall, my presence must be causing you some anxiety, perhaps even some genuine fear."

She paused, looking around again, and Haku's mind caught up with him. _How does she know who my father is? _"I could tell you a hundred times over that I am a friend. But I get the feeling that shallow placations won't change much. So, today, I am here to learn about you. I wish to understand you, to earn your trust."

"What about the dragons?" a voice called out, and Haku frowned.

"If I told you to get on a dragon's back and fly with me to its nest, would you do it?"

Many people shook their heads.

"Then the dragons will have to wait, until you can accept me and learn, if not to trust me, to at least believe that I speak the truth when I tell you that I am your friend."

The crowd began to murmur, people speaking to each other, trying to figure out what to make of this stranger.

Someone shouted, "Who are you?" Another: "What is your name?" Several others: "Where is the dragon?!"

Suddenly they quieted and parted, forming a path. Vahna emerged, followed by Asti and Alkaa. The stranger, oddly enough, smiled at Vahna, who offered her a smile in return.

"People of Heimme," the old woman began to speak, and everyone leaned in close to hear her words. "I said before that I believe we can trust this stranger. Who she is, is not important now. Now, having held counsel with her, I know with great certainty that her word is her bond. I have given her a name. It is the name by which we shall address her. Trust her. Respect her. She is our only hope." With that, she turned around, and slowly walked away.

The crowd immediately broke out in hushed conversations, everyone wondering the same thing.

Haku stepped closer to the stranger, and she looked over at him, her eyes full of hidden thoughts that he could not even begin to discern.

"Well, stranger. It seems that you are here to stay, at least for the time being. Vahna said she "gave you a name." What does that mean? What is it?"

She looked away from him, focusing again on the crowd, who quieted upon hearing Haku's questions.

"As Vahna said. The name I once had no longer belongs to me. It is a part of a past that I may or may not return to. For now, I am _Missti Einn_. You may also call me Rádgatá. I am at your service."

_Lost One._ _Mystery. _For a moment, her words sank in. Then, almost as one, the crowd converged on her, each with questions of their own. She didn't even blink, but Haku raised his hands anyways.

"Please, everyone! Settle down!" Slowly the crowd subsided, and the stranger- Rádgatá-looked over at him expectantly. "Go about your tasks. Today is no different than any other day. _Missti Einn _will accompany me to visit you all, so that she may become accustomed to our ways. Go on," he urged them, and slowly the people went back to their business, necks craned to watch Rádgatá's movement.

Haku turned to face Rádgatá, who momentarily looked a little overwhelmed. As soon as their eyes met, however, she was as composed and unreadable as ever. "Shall we?" he asked. With a short nod she turned and began to follow him as he made his rounds through the village.

"How did you know my father is the Chief?' he asked. She shrugged. "Did Vahna tell you?"

"No. It wasn't hard to guess. Everyone turns to you for answers and guidance, but they don't call you Chief. Either your village has no chief at all, or you are in line for the position."

_Very insightful. _"It's a little more complicated than that," he finally said.

"It always is."

People stared at her as she passed, but she seemed to pay them no mind. Haku was reminded of her earlier words._I hope that someday, when I greet you, you will not be afraid to return the gesture. _He found himself hoping that, too, as he explained the everyday workings of the village.

She stayed for a few hours, then expressed that she had learned enough for one day. Haku walked her back up to his house, wondering where she was going.

When they arrived, they looked at each other in silence. Haku cleared his throat, and Rádgatá tilted her head slightly. "Do you, ah…"

"Yes?"

"Do you need someplace to stay? You can stay here if you like." Immediately Haku regretted his words. While _he _might not mind the stranger's presence, his sisters very likely would, and then there was the matter of his bedridden father…

"Thank you for the offer, but I think everyone will be better off if I keep out of the village for the time being."

Haku tried not to sigh in relief. She seemed to notice this, but showed no sign of taking offense.

"I'll be back in the next few days. Let your people digest that I am here, and that I am, in fact, human." Her eyes twinkled with amusement, and Haku laughed. _She really was quite perceptive. _

They both turned to look out at the village, the streets busy with people going about their daily work. In the distance, Haku could hear the clanging of his sister's hammer, and he smiled. "Next time we'll-" he started, but when he turned to address her, he found that he was standing alone. _Had she even ever been there?_


	11. Chapter 11

Four days later, Haku awoke early in the morning, feeling disconcerted. _Another strange dream…_ He quickly dressed himself, belting his tunic and pulling on his boots, and messily tied his hair back to get it out of his face. Treading quietly, he left his room at the end of the hall, passing his sisters' bedrooms before heading downstairs. Looking back, he could see that his father's bedroom door was open, and for some reason he peered in.

Maara had fallen asleep in the chair next to their father's bed, her arms wrapped around her torso. Silently he entered the room, picking up a blanket and resting it over her sleeping form. She mumbled something incoherently, shifting beneath the sudden warmth, and Haku smiled.

Glancing over, he gazed upon his father dispassionately, doing his best not to let his old anger cloud his judgment. The man Haku knew as his father was gone, replaced by an empty shell of a human being. He couldn't hold a grudge against someone who no longer existed, but sometimes it was hard to remind himself of that.

Not wishing to sour his mood, Haku left the room, snagging a piece of fruit from the bowl on the table before opening the front door. Stepping outside, he took a deep breath. The sun had barely begun to rise, casting hazy light in flat panes across the village. A few birds chirped in the trees, and he could hear the waves crashing against the rocks where the ocean met land below. _This was paradise._

Walking over to lean on the deck railing, he pulled out his pocket knife and began to peel the fruit, shaving off the red and green peel to get to the crispy white flesh inside.

"I've never seen a fruit like that before."

Haku nearly dropped his knife and the fruit.

"Do you have a thing for terrifying people, or are you just mean?"

Rádgatá laughed, stepping forward. Haku was painfully aware that he was dressed rather sloppily, while she appeared as she had the last two times he had seen her, looking completely poised and suspiciously refreshed in her unusual leather armor. She came up next to him and leaned her hips against the railing, looking out at the perfection of the moment. His heart slowing, Haku turned back and continued peeling his fruit.

He cut off a small slice and popped it into his mouth, savoring it.

"Where's your dragon?"

"He's around here somewhere."

"You said that last time."

"I meant it then, too."

Silently he offered her a piece of the fruit, and she pulled off one of her gloves to take it from him. "Don't want to get the leather all sticky," she laughed.

"You're pretty fastidious when it comes to your armor, aren't you?"

"I learned it from my dad. Sometimes your armor is all you have."

_Very true. _He cut the rest of it in half and passed it to her, but instead of eating it, she simply kept it in her hand, standing upright. "Thanks for the fruit."

"Where are you going?"

"Well, my dragon will be grumpy if I've had something to eat and he hasn't."

"He likes fruit?!"

"Don't tell him I told you that," and she turned to walk away.

"Wait a minute!" he said, and ran back inside. Everyone was still asleep, so he quietly grabbed two of the largest pieces of fruit in the bowl and hurried back out. He was relieved to see that Rádgatá hadn't gone anywhere. She looked curiously at the fruit in his hands, before meeting his gaze and smiling broadly.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Nope."

Her smile widened. "Let's go, then."

* * *

><p>Shade waited patiently not far from the village as Aeri talked to the human. They had both woken up early, and decided that it was probably a good idea for her to return to the village and continue her attempts to get the people to trust her. Personally, Shade would have liked to go fishing like they had done yesterday on the opposite side of the island, but Aeri promised they would go again later.<p>

The day before yesterday, Shade had followed Aeri down the mountain to the old woman's house. Telling him to wait where he was, Aeri took a running start and jumped up onto the wall, somehow clambering up the vertical surface to disappear through the open window on the second floor. He listened to her voice, sitting still as a face that didn't belong to his rider appeared in the window, before turning away. A few moments passed, and he glanced up at the trees, the foliage high above filtering the sun into thin beams that spread to leave a dappled pattern on the forest floor. It was like other forests he had seen, but just different enough from Berk to keep his thoughts from traveling down unwanted paths. He couldn't completely stop them, though, and images of his family drifted across his mind's eye, trying to torment him.

But he would not be tormented. He had sworn that he would not allow anyone to cause him pain any more. His life was dedicated to making sure Aeri's was a safe and happy one. Nothing else mattered.

The door to the house swung open, pulling him from his thoughts. Aeri stepped out, followed by the diminutive older woman he had seen in the square the other morning. She didn't look surprised to see him, but she couldn't hide her curiosity.

"Rádgatá," she said, and Shade had to remind himself that Aeri had a new name now. _Two _new names, actually, which seemed rather silly to him, but his opinion didn't really count.

"Rádgatá, all my life I have lived in fear of these creatures. I never dreamed that someday I could look one in the eye without that fear, but here I am."

"Go on, then. He won't hurt you."

Vahna stepped forward, her eyes shining. Something told Shade this wise woman didn't often express her true feelings, but she had chosen to share them now, so he would try to make the experience as memorable for her as possible.

Spreading his wings to their full length, he bowed, not taking his eyes off her.

"Extend your hand, Vahna."

The old woman did as Aeri said, and Shade waited patiently until her hand hovered a few inches in front of his face. He took a deep breath, taking in her scent. She smelled a lot like Gobber's goody bag, to be honest. Different herbs and dried plants all mixed together. It wasn't unpleasant, so he exhaled, and her eyes widened at the rush of warm air passing through her fingers.

Slowly, keeping his eyes locked with hers, Shade pressed his nose into the old woman's palm. He felt her stiffen for a moment, then relax.

"Incredible."

"He is, isn't he?"

_Incredible, huh? _Shade wasn't sure about that, but he wasn't one to deny a compliment. He rumbled his thanks, and Vahna's eyes widened with surprise at the resonating sound.

"That's his way of talking. My father and a few others suspect that the dragons have their own language, a way of communicating in great detail and depth. Sometimes they'll just sit around, making noises that any human would disregard as an animal sound, but that we suspect are actually vocalizations of their language. It's quite interesting, actually."

"Really? That is very interesting, very interesting indeed."

For a while after that, Shade had sat still while Aeri told Vahna more about dragon physicalities, pointing out traits specific to Night Furies and asking Vahna about the dragons that were native to this area. As it turned out, there were three dragon types besides the "Horrible Horrors", as Aeri called them.

There were Raptortongues, apparently more cat-like dragons that sounded like they were about the size of a Gronckle, that were yellow, red, or orange, and green. Rather than a club-like tail, though, the Raptortongue had a spiny back that it used for self-defense and a poisonous bite. Then there was the Flashfang, either green, blue, or yellow, that stood on its back legs. _Sounds like a Deadly Nadder._

Finally, there was the Grimler, the most feared of all the dragons that showed up on Heimme. Coming in various shades of red and brown, this larger dragon sounded an awful like a Monstrous Nightmare, right down to the ability to set itself on fire.

"These sound very similar to dragons we have on Berk. Maybe they're related, like cousins, or something…" Aeri looked thoughtful.

"You'll see them eventually, and be able to judge for yourself."

"I suppose that's true."

* * *

><p>Now, as the light of dawn filtered through the leaves above, Shade wondered if the dragons around here would be friendly. The Horrible Horrors were basically Terrible Terrors, just different in color. So, they weren't the most stimulating of company, as they were largely preoccupied with food and getting more food. It had been a long time since he'd had a conversation that didn't involve him threatening another dragon to get off of human land or else. <em>Looks like that's how it's going to be here, too.<em>

"Shade?" Aeri's voice brought him out of his reverie. He rumbled loudly, and heard her footsteps crunching the leaves and sticks underfoot. But she wasn't alone, and immediately his guard went up.

"Hey, bud." She came from between a few bushes, smiling. But Shade's gaze was locked on the person rather clumsily pushing through the brush behind her.

_Oh. _It was just that Haku boy, or whatever his name was.

"You remember Haku, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's been less than a week."

Aeri didn't understand his words but she got the point, and she laughed. Haku just looked confused. Shade took a good look at him, taking in his slightly disheveled appearance. The human was pretty tall, taller than Aeri by at least four inches, approaching the height of some of the hulking Vikings back on Berk, but he wasn't bulky looking. He sort of reminded Shade of Eret, actually, as far as body type went. He wore a sleeveless sand colored tunic with a rusty red trim, and a thick dark brown belt around his hips. His baggy pants were also dark brown, and his boots were even darker.

Looking up at his face, Shade took in his messy black hair, hastily tied back, and the dark stubble along his jaw. His grey blue eyes stood out against his tan skin, and were as expressive as usual. He didn't seem to be able to hide his thoughts or feelings very well.

Aeri was talking to him, and Shade saw that the human was holding two pieces of a fruit that he'd never seen before. Haku seemed to notice his focus, and smiled nervously at him. "I brought you some fruit."

Shade looked away, trying to act disinterested. He couldn't help but glance back out of the corner of his eye, to see Aeri giving Haku a push in his direction.

"What do I say?" he was asking her.

"You just offer it to him, and if he wants it, he'll take it."

"What if he doesn't-"

"He wants it."

Shade tilted his head back in the uneasy human's direction, watching him sidle closer, reaching out his arm to offer him the fruit.

Shade leaned in and sniffed it, taking pleasure in Haku's obvious nervousness. He could see Aeri behind the male, watching him knowingly. _No funny business. _So, Shade retracted his teeth and opened his mouth, waiting for Haku to toss him the fruit.

Instead, the human narrowed his eyes and peered closer. "You don't have any-"

He quickly snatched the fruit out of the human's hand before he could flinch, and leaning back, chewed on it thoughtfully. _Nice and sweet._ He rumbled his approval, noting with some satisfaction that the human was wide-eyed and frozen in place, hands tucked close against his chest.

"He likes it!" Aeri called, and Haku turned back to look at her. Shade took the opportunity to creep closer, eyeballing the remaining fruit. His rider, seeing this, put a hand up to her mouth, stifling her laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

Shade reared up to his full height and waited for Haku to turn around. When the human felt the hot breath on the back of his neck, he _slowly _spun around, coming face to face with a Night Fury. Shade had to give him credit, he didn't flinch or scream or run away. Instead, he shakily brought up the fruit in between them.

"Here you go."

Shade opened his mouth wide again, teeth retracted, and Haku seemed to decide it would be best to just toss the fruit into his mouth rather than wait for him to take it from him. He ate it, licking his lips, and moved forward, forcing Haku to step back, and again, until the human was actually walking backwards to avoid being run over. Shade sniffed at him, rumbling, and Haku raised his hands.

"I don't have any more!" Then he bumped into Aeri, who placed her hands on his shoulders and held him in place. Shade laughed, causing Aeri to laugh, leaving Haku incredulous.

"Is he… laughing? At me?"

"Not _at _you, necessarily," she grinned, and Shade did his best impression of a toothless smile, making Haku really laugh aloud.

"Amazing! You're not so scary at all, are you?"

In an instant, Shade dropped into a predatory crouch, growling ferociously, his pupils slits and ears flat against his neck.

Haku tried to step back but found he was still being held in place by Aeri.

"Okay, okay! I take it back, you're terrifying!" he said, trying to placate Shade, who was trying not to laugh again.

"That's what I thought," he said, and again, Aeri appeared to understand, and laughed.

Almost as quickly, Shade sat back on his haunches and his ears came forward, pupils widening. He laughed again, a deep, throaty rumble, and Haku's face once again went slack with disbelief.

"Amazing," he whispered.

"Go on," Aeri encouraged him, giving the human a little shove.

"What do I-"

"Hold out your hand."

"But I don't have any more fruit!"

"I know, just do it." He hesitated a moment too long and Aeri came around beside him, grabbed his hand, and dragged him closer to Shade. _She must like this human, _he thought curiously.

Haku, on the other hand, was anything but curious. Until Rádgatá grabbed his hand, and the contact of her bare skin on his gave him a little jolt. _What the…? _He looked down to where her long, slim fingers held on to the back of his larger, darker hand. But she didn't seem to notice anything, just dragged him over to her dragon, who looked just a little bit amused. _He sees everything,_ Haku thought suspiciously.

"Come down a bit.," she spoke to the dragon.

The dragon complied, and lowered himself until he was eye level with Haku. He resisted the urge to swallow, trying to remain calm as Rádgatá pulled his arm forward until his hand hovered inches away from the dragon's face. The creature's pupils were wide, which Haku realized must mean that he was in some kind of a good mood. He took a little shuffling step forward, holding his breath, and placed his palm on the dragon's nose.

Its scales were warm and smooth against his calloused hand, and the dragon gave a deep purr.

"Rub his neck."

Haku slowly slid his hand around to feel the side of the dragon's head, down until his hand rested on his neck, where he could feel the vibrations resonating from the creature's chest. Suddenly the dragon pushed into Haku's chest with his head, nudging him. Instinctively Haku's other hand came up and rested on the other side of the dragon's neck, and magically he was touching the most frightening creature he had ever encountered. Not just touching. _Petting. _

Aeri watched the smile slowly spread across Haku's face as he started to really rub Shade's neck, much to her dragon's pleasure. She came up next to Haku, sliding her arm underneath his. "Watch this." She expertly found that sweet spot on Shade's neck that caused him to collapse in a heap on the ground with a rather stupid smile on his face.

"Whoa!" Haku exclaimed, looking at her in amazement.

"All dragons have a spot like that."

"That probably comes in handy," he commented, peering down at Shade. "When you're trying to train them. Right?"

"Exactly," she said, pleased that he was catching on so quickly.

"Does he have a name?"

_Hmm. _"You can call him… Dreki." _Dragon. His name was lost, too. _

Haku raised an eyebrow, telling her he knew that wasn't actually the dragon's name. The sunlight was just a bit stronger now as it passed through the leaves above, leaving dapples on the ground and their bodies.

"People are probably getting up about now," he finally said reluctantly.

"How about this," Rádgatá said. "I'll go with you back to the village, and maybe tonight after sunset we can go for a flight. Sound good?"

Haku's heart raced at the thought of soaring through the sky again, and he found himself nodding yes.

"Good!" she smiled, and his heart seemed to skip another beat.

"Alright, bud," she said, crouching down next to her dragon, who was beginning to come to. "Time to head up to camp. I'm going with Haku for the day, so you'll need to find something to eat. When the sun starts to set, come back here, and we'll go for a flight."

The dragon groaned in response, and, still smiling, Rádgatá walked around to his side and reached into a bag attached to the dragon's saddle. She rummaged through it, looking for something. Haku was about to ask when she pulled out her helmet, then, after re-tying the bag, she unfixed a spear as long as she was tall, expertly spinning it in her hand.

"Um…" Haku started. "What do you need that for?"

"You never know when a spear might come in handy," she said cheerfully, patting the dragon's side as he got to his feet.

"I'm not so sure the villagers will love the sight of you wandering around in the streets with a weapon like that." Even if it was the most beautiful weapon he'd ever seen. It was obviously crafted by a master. _Where was she from?_ he found himself wondering again.

"Well, I suppose you're right," she said, no less cheerfully, as she quickly slid it back into its place against the saddle. "I'll bring you some fish another time, bud," she addressed the dragon, who nodded. _Oh._ Haku felt a little stupid. But he knew he was right about how the villagers would react to _her _walking around with a weapon of that size.

"Alright!" she said, walking back over to Haku with her helmet tucked under her arm. "Shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, she spun Haku around and headed toward the village.

As they walked off, Shade found himself wondering. His human had become very cautious since they had left Berk, and had mostly outgrown her recklessness and temper. But she still had impulsive tendencies, which could get her into trouble. Shade just worried that she might become too attached to this place. While he didn't mind it here, he wasn't sure he wanted to stay here forever. Although he didn't want to admit it, he found that he had a slight- very slight- desire to someday go home. _No, _he thought crossly. _Just to _have _a home. That's all. _

The idea of home haunted him, made him long for the company of other dragons and human riders. Maybe they could accomplish that here, on Heimme. It didn't look like Aeri was planning on leaving any time soon, so perhaps they could change the ways of these people.

Maybe.

* * *

><p>Aeri pushed through the last few bushes that led to the area behind Haku's house. Behind her, Haku did the same, just rather noisily. With some amusement, she decided she would have to train him to be more subtle. If he was ever going to approach a wild dragon, he'd need to be as quiet and confident as possible. <em>Best not to pressure him with that just yet.<em> He'd barely been able to stand still when Shade was playing around with him, but to his credit, he did hold his ground as well as he could.

Finally they were free, and together they walked around to the front of the house, looking out as the villagers were just beginning to emerge from their homes. Aeri could hear the distant sound of metal clanging against metal, and suppressed the urge to ask Haku to take her directly to the village blacksmith, just to watch him work. _Resist the past, Aeri. _

Haku heard his sister in the forge, and wondered why she was out so early. Before he found out, though, he wanted to check on Maara, so he went up the stairs to his front door.

"Rádgatá, do you mind if I just-"

"Go right ahead."

With a nod of thanks, he slipped inside. "Maara?"

Her face appeared in the doorway across the room. "Haku?"

"How are you doing, Maara?"

"Everything's fine. Vasara was calling you earlier, but when you didn't answer, she left for the forge. Where were you?

"Me? I was, uh… taking a walk."

"A walk, huh?" his sister looked skeptical, but didn't question him. "Okay, well, she wanted me to tell you to meet her at the forge."

"All right, thanks Maara." Quickly he ran upstairs to his room, throwing on a fresh tunic and re-tying his hair back in an attempt to be more presentable. Rubbing a hand along his jaw as he jogged back down the stairs, he sighed, figuring he'd just have to shave another time.

Haku stepped outside, and was relieved to see that Rádgatá was leaning against the railing of the deck, overlooking the village. Without looking back at him, she asked, "Where to first?"

Before he could answer, the front door opened behind them. "Ha- oh. Oh. Sorry!"

They both turned to see a clearly disconcerted Maara standing in the doorway. "I didn't, ah…" she trailed off, staring at Rádgatá. "I'll just go back inside now." She began to close the door, but Haku caught it.

"Maara, wait. Rádgatá, this is my sister, Maara."

"Hello, Maara," Rádgatá said, smiling warmly.

Maara clearly didn't know how to react. Her mouth opened in a little 'o' and she didn't answer.

"Come on, Maara," Haku said, a little frustrated. "She's usually quite talkative, I don't know…"

"No, it's alright, Haku," Rádgatá said calmly. "Hmm… you look about sixteen, but you're obviously more mature than any of the sixteen-year-olds I've met. Am I right?"

Slowly, Maara nodded, seeming to unfreeze a bit. Rádgatá spoke again, suddenly appearing a little hesitant. "I…" she paused, clearly debating on whether or not to continue. "I have a brother, back where I'm from. He would be… seventeen this year. He's always been quite serious, reading lots of books and learning as much about the world as he can."

Haku smiled a little. His sister had a few worn books on a shelf in her room, that she read over and over again. Finally, she responded.

"I like books, too," she whispered.

Rádgatá smiled encouragingly. "You two would probably get along very well. While he seems very preoccupied with his thoughts, he has a marvelous imagination, and he's very skilled with his sword, and when he's with Storm-" she immediately broke off, her face going blank.

Maara looked worried, afraid she had done something wrong. Haku, seeing this, intervened.

"Rádgatá, who is Storm?"

"No one. Forget… I'm sorry. Maara, it was very nice to meet you. I hope you won't be frightened of me forever," she added cheerfully, before turning to look at Haku.

He looked at his sister, who no longer looked frozen, but a bit troubled. "I'm not afraid of you," she said firmly, and Rádgatá looked at her with some surprise.

"Really?"

"I'm not. I just don't know you."

"That's… very reasonable. I hope to get to know you, though, if that's okay with you."

Maara appeared to consider this. "I guess I'm alright with that."

Rádgatá smiled again. "Excellent."

Saying their farewells, Haku led Rádgatá down the steps and towards the village. She was looking around this time, appearing very interested, her helmet still tucked underneath her arm.

This time, the villagers weren't so chilly. They did stare, and they did follow once she and Haku had passed, but overall, their reactions were far less dramatic. They walked by a woman with a little toddler on her lap. The chubby baby lifted an arm and jerkily waved it back and forth, and Rádgatá smiled and waved back, causing the child to laugh, which was rather disconcerting for its mother.

Once again they approached the center of the village, and the clanging of metal caught both of their attention.

"Can we go over there?" Rádgatá asked him, suddenly looking very alert.

"Actually, that's where we are headed now."

"Oh! Perfect," she said, a little mysteriously.

"Yes, but-" she was already striding ahead. Haku didn't have a chance to tell her to let him speak to his sister first. "Rádgatá, wait!"

But she was already approaching the forge, where his sister was working, oblivious.

Vasara had her back turned, and was hammering away at a battle axe, seemingly letting out some pent-up rage. Rádgatá walked up silently, watching his sister thoughtfully, not seeming surprised at all that the blacksmith was a woman.

Haku figured he should probably alert his sister to their presence before Rádgatá got too close. He'd nearly had a heart attack earlier when she'd appeared behind him. He didn't want to think of what might happen if they surprised his sister while she held a hammer in one hand and an axe in the other.

"Vasara?" he called, his voice barely carrying over the clanging of her hammer. "Vasara!"

Finally she turned, wiping her forearm across her brow, and seemed startled to find Rádgatá standing only feet away, watching her work. Immediately she became defensive, though she couldn't explain why. "Can I help you?" she asked, her politeness failing to mask her inexplicable dislike of the stranger.

"Maybe. Have you been the smith here for very long?"

"I was Seppa's apprentice for fourteen years before I took over."

"So, you must be…"

"Nineteen," Vasara said shortly, as if daring Rádgatá to say anything about it. Instead of her usual short nod, the stranger's face broke out into a wide smile, and Vasara frowned slightly, uncertain.

"I'm nineteen, too," Rádgatá revealed, which came as a surprise to both Haku, Vasara, and the small group of people who had accidentally-on-purpose wandered over to the forge. She seemed so much older than that! Haku himself was twenty-three, but he was beginning to feel that he was something of a child compared to this strange woman.

Vasara didn't bother to hide her disbelief, and Rádgatá laughed. "I forget my age, sometimes. When you live half your life in the sky, time means… less."

Haku's sister didn't seem to know how to respond. Not perturbed, Rádgatá kept speaking. "If you're the smith, maybe you could assist me with something. Two things, actually," she said.

Recovering, Vasara frowned, and Haku wondered at his sister's strange insistence at being rude to Rádgatá. "I guess so. What do you need?"

"Well, first, I need a thick strap of leather four feet long and four fingers wide. Do you have anything like that?"

"I might," Vasara said shortly. "What do you need it for?"

"Well, when I arrived here, when I _first _arrived here, I was unconscious, so I've only pieced this together through various accounts and evidence. Anyways, I suffered a pretty nasty gash on my right arm, and bled just a bit too much. We were flying through a storm, and I knew if I fell I would likely be lost. So, I hooked a strap that I keep attached to my saddle for just this kind of situation around my waist, right before I passed out. Apparently, some of your men found me lying on the beach, unconscious, with the strap still around me. Unfortunately, it was no longer attached to anything, which means that my dragon must have cut me loose so that I could be rescued, rather than killed on sight. Very thoughtful of him," she said, almost as an afterthought. "Long story short, I need another strap for my saddle, just so I have it in case of an emergency."

Vasara, Haku, and the crowd were momentarily stunned by her quick and to-the-point explanation. His sister recovered first, and said, without any indication of bitterness, "Yes, I think I've got something like that. Um, what else did you need?"

Rádgatá pulled out her helmet from underneath her arm and gently set it on the countertop. Vasara glanced at it, then looked back, drawn in by the intricacy of its construction. "Are those… wings?" she asked.

"Yes, that's what I was hoping you could help me with, you see, the one on the right is a little bent and…" after another brief explanation, Vasara leaned back, rubbing her chin.

"I think I have what you need, but I don't think I can do the repair myself. You'd probably have to take it back to whoever made it for you in the first place. Those are quite intricate," Vasara gestured at the wings.

"Well, that's no trouble, they didn't take me particularly long. I just don't happen to have the proper tools with me to- what?"

Vasara's jaw had dropped. "You… _you _made that helmet?" she asked incredulously.

Rádgatá looked sheepish. "Guilty."

"Did you also make your outfit?" Haku's sister was staring at Rádgatá's armor, clearly wanting to examine it more closely.

"I did."

"Where did you learn how to craft like that?"

"Back where I'm from, I was the blacksmith's apprentice, as well. But I also learned a lot from…" she swallowed, "… from my father."

Vasara looked awed. "Could I… could I see some of your armor sometime?"

Smiling brightly, Rádgatá replied, "Of course! Here, you can see my chest plate…" Haku watched as she nimbly unhooked a complicated series of straps and hooks before lifting the entire thing over her head, leaving her upper body clothed in a skin-tight cloth and leather bodysuit. The collar seemed particularly long, and it lay flat next to her neck, neatly folded. Haku could see that her shoulders were slightly broad for a woman, but not so wide as to be unfeminine. _Wait… what?_

Not noticing his stare, Aeri handed her upper body armor to the blacksmith, a dark blonde woman standing about six inches shorter than herself. Her shoulders felt strangely light without the large pads on them, and she took a deep breath, stretching out her chest. With a small smile, she watched as the woman's gray eyes hungrily took in every detail of her chest plate and shoulder armor.

Aeri had never considered herself to be a particularly good smith. How could she, when her father was, well, who he was? His ingenuity and skill surpassed any that she had ever encountered. So when Heimme's blacksmith was so impressed with her work, she felt torn. On the one hand, she felt good about herself. On the other, she wouldn't be able to do any of it without what she learned from Gobber, but more significantly, her father's tutelage _and _his designs. She would be no one without the training her parents provided her with. Obviously, everyone is a reflection of the person or people who raised them, but Aeri never felt that she lived up to her parents' abilities. Not her mother, the warrior, not her father, the inventor, the peace-maker, the leader.

Who was she, if not some messed up combination of her parents gone wrong?

She looked at the blacksmith's face. What had Haku called her… Vasara. She looked familiar, although Aeri couldn't place her, until she got a good look at the other woman's eyes.

"Are you two related?" she asked Haku, who seemed slightly surprised.

"She's my younger sister," he replied. "How did you guess?"

"Your eyes are the same."

And they were, a stormy gray that did a poor job of disguising their emotions and thoughts. She had only been around Haku a few times, but she already felt that she had a good sense of who he was. He seemed to be dealing with a lot, but doing his best to hide his inner turmoil. However, with eyes that expressive, it was impossible for him to disguise his feelings entirely. Aeri wondered what exactly was going on in his life, but didn't feel like it was the right time to ask.

"_Missti Einn_?" Vasara interrupted her thoughts.

"Yes?"

"I have the things you need. I'm sorry I was so rude before, I suppose I just don't trust easily, especially when it comes to…"

_Dragons. _"I understand. Where I'm from, we were not always allied with the dragons. Before, if someone consorted with one not as hunter and prey but as _partners_, they were shunned by the tribe. I know this because it actually happened, to one boy."

Vasara set down the armor on her workbench, leaning back against the counter. "Sounds like quite a story."

"It certainly is."

Haku spoke up. "I think we'd all like to hear it, Rádgatá." Turning around, Aeri realized that a sizable crowd had gathered outside the forge and was watching her interactions with Haku and Vasara. No one seemed particularly hostile, simply… curious. It made sense, of course. It was the perfect story to share, the story of the boy and his dragon, the best friends who changed life as her people knew it. For that was exactly what she was asking of these people, to take a chance on one person with a dragon, a chance to move forward in life without fear.

"Well, I suppose I can't say no to all of you."

_Now, where to begin?_


	12. Chapter 12

**Merry Christmas! I hope you are all having happy, safe holidays. **

**Here comes another re-telling of the first movie. This time, however, it's from the humans' point of view, so it'll be slightly different than the one Toothless shared in Of the Night. You _could _theoretically skip reading this chapter, but why not just go ahead and read it to refresh your memories of basically one of the best movies ever? There's also some stuff at the end that I'd recommend checking out. **

**This chapter is rather long, so thanks for your patience, friends. **

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><p>"There was once a boy named Hiccup. Hiccup was named so because of his size. You see, his people were Vikings, massive men and sturdy women, all capable warriors. But Hiccup was small, and weak, compared to the other Vikings, even the Vikings his age. He couldn't lift a hammer, he couldn't swing an axe, and he couldn't even throw a bola. One thing he <em>could <em>do, though, was think. Apprenticed to the village blacksmith at a young age, Hiccup grew up creating countless devices and contraptions to improve life, as well as accomplish things that he physically could not. The only problem, was that these inventions had a tendency to malfunction, causing chaos and destruction on a regular basis.

"The island they lived on was located near a dragon's nest, surrounded by an impenetrable white mist, which, although they tried and tried and tried again, they could not pass through. So, the Vikings were at the mercy of the dragons' random attacks, and built their lives around the idea and necessity of slaying the monsters. It was during one such dragon raid that Hiccup realized his chance at escaping his unofficial label, Hiccup the Useless, would come if he could slay a dragon himself. So he set to work on building a device that could throw a bola for him, to ensnare a dragon, so that he could finally kill one. But not just any dragon.

"You see, there were a few different types of dragons that regularly attacked the island, each more frightening than the last. The Terrible Terror, the Gronckle, the two-headed Hideous Zippleback, the Deadly Nadder, and of course, the fearsome Monstrous Nightmare. But there was one other dragon, one that no one had ever seen. It never showed itself, it never stole any livestock, and it never missed. Its explosive plasma could destroy an entire catapult with one blast.

"The Vikings had a dragon manual, that classified the different types of dragons and listed their characteristics, not just the ones that frequented the island, but every dragon they had ever encountered. Pages and pages of facts and illustrations, all of the Viking's knowledge about dragons was in that book. Dragons like the Thunderdrum, the Timberjack, the Whispering Death, the Boneknapper… the world was full of these monsters, and the Vikings existed in that world of kill or be killed.

"But the one dragon that no one had ever encountered, the one that caused such intense and impressive destruction, well, _that_ was the dragon Hiccup planned to slay. '_Speed: unknown. Size: unknown_. _The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself…' _I think you know where I'm going with this… '_Never engage this dragon. Your only chance is to hide, and pray it does not find you.' _Those were the only words written in the book about the dark, mysterious, legendary Night Fury."

Aeri waited as the crowd's murmurs died down. "Hiccup knew that if he could be the first to bring down such a creature, he would no longer be useless to his people, no longer worthless to his father. For you see, that was the defining shame of his life: Hiccup's father was the Chief of the tribe, a mountain of a man who had taken on dragons bare-handed from his childhood. His hatred of the dragons was infectious, and under his command countless ships sailed from the island to try and get through the mist surrounding the dragons' nest. Hiccup was sick of being the embarrassing only child of such a great and powerful Chief. He was tired of being the disaster, the accident waiting to happen…" she trailed off, trying to fight off memories of the last time she spoke to her parents.

"So, Hiccup designed his own bola launcher. His chance came one night, when the dragons attacked. Instead of staying inside as he was ordered, he ran to the forge, where the blacksmith, Gobber, was working on repairing the bent, burnt, and mostly destroyed weapons that the Vikings were tossing in his direction as they fought off the raiding dragons. Hiccup, as his apprentice, assisted him in this, barely able to lift the Vikings' massive swords to the grindstone. When Gobber left to join the fray, Hiccup once again disobeyed orders, and took his bola launcher out to the edge of a cliff, a short distance from the village…" Aeri told them of how Hiccup waited for his chance, and what happened when he took it.

"He pulled the trigger, falling backwards as the bola flew out into the night, and then— a terrible shriek filled the night as the bola found its target, and Hiccup watched as a dark shape plummeted towards the forest on the other side of the island. In disbelief, Hiccup stood up and cheered, hoping that someone, _anyone _had witnessed his triumph. The only one around happened to be a Monstrous Nightmare, who proceeded to chase Hiccup back into the village, spewing fire at him and snapping at him with its enormous jaws. Just when it had him cornered, Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast, tackled the beast, and barehanded, drove it away. But the damage had been done. The enormous torch the Vikings used to light up the night when the dragons attacked collapsed, sending a giant circle of fire crashing through the village, leaving Hiccup standing in front of his father and a gathering crowd of frustrated Vikings.

"Yet again, Hiccup's actions had proved disastrous. As the sun rose, he was once again scolded by his father in front of the entire village, before being sent back to his house. But without anyone's knowledge, he slipped out the back door, heading out into the forest.

"Now, in my opinion, if you just so happened to shoot down the most terrifying creature known to your people, you probably shouldn't go looking for it alone. But that's what Hiccup did. With a hand-drawn map (Hiccup was also an excellent artist) he scoured the forest, coming up empty-handed. Just when he was about to give up and turn around, he saw a tree that had been broken in half, before a deep trench that disappeared over the top of a small hill. Climbing into the trench, Hiccup followed its path, looking over the hill… and immediately fell back. For there, at the bottom of the hill, was the dragon that no one had ever seen. A creature black as night, with great bat-like wings, its entire body tangled up in the bola.

"It was completely motionless, and so Hiccup approached it slowly, and when it still didn't move, he shouted in triumph, putting his foot up on the creature's shoulder. "This fixes everything! I have brought down this mighty-" The dragon suddenly groaned and shifted, pushing Hiccup back.

"Hiccup quickly pulled out his dagger, and stepped closer once again, listening to the heavy breathing of the beast. Slowly his gaze slid along the length of the dragon, and he peered around the edge of its wing to see a bright green eye staring right at him.

"He mentally steeled himself. He was going to cut out the beast's heart and take it to his father. He was a Viking. He could do this. But looking into the creature's eyes, he saw there something he had never imagined, something that stilled his hand. But the urge to prove himself was too strong, so he raised his dagger, preparing to strike, and the dragon let out a small noise of defeat, closing its eyes and dropping its head to the ground."

The crowd was leaning in, listening with awe. "As Hiccup prepared to bring his blade down, something changed in his heart. He could not kill this dragon. He saw in its eyes not the mind of a vicious killer, but the depth of a living being, with thoughts and feelings and a spirit that reflected his own. He had caused this creature pain enough. So he kneeled down and began slicing through the ropes restraining the dragon, loosening its bonds. Suddenly, it leapt to its feet, shoving Hiccup to the ground. Trapping him with its razor-sharp claws against a rock, it stared him down, as though reminding Hiccup of its power. Hiccup, though certain his death was imminent, was stricken by the dragon's enormous green eyes, so vivid and expressive and angry. It reared back, inhaling, as if to strike, before letting out a wild roar in Hiccup's face and launching itself away, flying through the forest, smashing into trees and rocks. Its cries of pain and confusion echoed through the misty woods, and in shock, Hiccup got to his feet, dagger still in hand. He turned to walk back to the village, when his knees gave out and he collapsed.

"Later that night, he crept through his front door, trying to slip past his enormous father, who was stoking the fire…" she described Hiccup's conversation with Stoick, how despite his protests, Hiccup was forced to promise his father that he would participate in dragon training, before his father left on yet another expedition to reach the dragon's nest. "Miserably, Hiccup watched him leave, wondering just how he was going to fulfill his promise, and more importantly, how he was supposed to survive the next few weeks."

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><p>Shade listened to Aeri speak from about block and a half away, hidden in some bushes at the edge of the forest. He assumed she was in the forge, a structure he couldn't see from behind the row of houses down the street. The entire village was gathered around her. This wasn't a short story, not by a long shot. He'd heard it many times, from his father, his mother, Stormfly, Hookfang… come to think of it, a lot of dragons seemed to enjoy retelling it, although Shade was relatively certain most of them hadn't actually been present for the majority of the events, if any of it at all.<p>

But he had never actually heard it told from the human's perspective. And as he listened to Aeri share with these strangers the failures and trials of her father as a teenager, he realized just how incredible the story really was. Hiccup wasn't just anybody, not just a random Viking who had a change of heart. No, as they had all learned, he was his mother's son, full of compassion and wit, with the gift to see the world as it could be, rather than simply what it was. With one lucky shot, he changed his destiny. No longer would he be the disappointing, weak, _useless _Hiccup. With one lucky shot, he began a journey, an epic tale that would bring out the greatness in him, the greatness that no one on Berk had ever suspected could come from such a scrawny person. With one lucky shot, he changed the fates of humans and dragons everywhere.

Shade listened as she told them of his first, rather disastrous day of training, ending with an angry Meatlug nearly blasting his head off. Of course, Aeri didn't use names, or really even go into the specifics of the dragons.

"Their teacher, Gobber, who also happened to be the blacksmith, if you recall, said this as Hiccup sat in shock in the ground beneath the smoking wall. "Remember, a dragon will always- _always_ go for the kill." But Hiccup knew this wasn't true. The deadliest and most fearsome dragon had not killed him, or even harmed him. But why?"

His rider's voice filtered through the crowd, echoing through the empty streets. "Hiccup returned to the place where he had cut the Night Fury loose. Carefully, he followed its trail… Eventually finding the dragon trapped in a cove in the forest, Hiccup discovered that half of its tailfin was missing, and that it could not fly away."

Shade thought of his father's red tailfin, the one that Hiccup had designed for him. It allowed him to fly on his own, without a rider, granting him any freedom he desired. Without Hiccup, his father would most likely have died, and Shade would never had existed. Come to think of it, without Hiccup's whole "breaking every tradition and belief and expectation ever held for Vikings" thing, Aeri wouldn't be around, either. Or any of the other Night Furies.

"Hiccup's next training session didn't go much better. A maze had been set up in the dragon fighting arena, and he and the other Viking teens were running about, trying not to be killed or maimed by the dragon of the day. Hiccup tried asking Gobber about Night Furies, but the tough blacksmith had nothing to tell him, except to "Get in there!" and train. This time, though, the dragon ended up chasing another recruit, destroying the maze in the process. Her name was Astrid, and she was the most beautiful and most deadly of all the Viking teens. She ended up on top of the maze as it collapsed, and leaping off, she landed directly on top of Hiccup, her battle axe buried deep in his shield. But the dragon had spotted them. Desperately they tried to untangle themselves, until Astrid tore the entire shield off Hiccup's arm with her axe handle and bashed it against the dragon's face just as it came upon them, sending it running off.

"Turning around, she saw Hiccup, curled up on the ground, and her anger overcame her. Hiccup would never forget her speech, as it became a pivotal moment in his life. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?" she shouted. "Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on!" Well, Hiccup had never really been accepted by the Vikings. Only Gobber was ever really nice to him, the only one who seemed to think he was somewhat worthwhile. But Astrid's words got him thinking. Maybe it was time to see things from another side. Maybe it was time to see where he really belonged.

"He returned to the cove with a fish and a shield. The shield quickly became stuck between two rocks, so all Hiccup had left was the fish. Hopefully that would be enough to prevent the dragon from killing him. He quietly stepped into the cove, looking around, but the dragon was nowhere in sight. As he walked along, he heard a noise, and turning, he saw the great black creature climbing over a pile of rocks, sniffing the air.

"Fighting his fear, he held out the fish, and the dragon slowly began to approach, before dropping back in a fearsome snarl. Instinctively, Hiccup reached for his dagger, but that was exactly what the Night Fury was growling about. Slowly Hiccup pulled his knife from his waistband and dropped it on the ground. The dragon gestured for him to kick it away, and he did, picking it up with his foot in a surprising show of dexterity and tossing it into he lake.

"In an instant, the dragon sat back on its haunches, ears forward, pupils wide. Now, I'll just tell you this. When a dragon's pupils are wide, it means several things. Firstly, it means that it is in a relatively good mood. Second, it means that it is receptive to being approached. Third, it can show a level of trust and affection, depending on the relationship you have with the dragon. I bet you didn't know that, because I bet the only interaction you've ever had with a dragon was with a weapon between the two of you." She paused, and Shade picked up the sounds of whispering in the crowd, before someone hushed them loudly.

"Thank you," Aeri said, to whoever had done the shushing. Shade wished he could see the gathering, but knew his hiding spot was as close as he was going to get for now. "Anyways. Its pupils were wide, which somehow made it look infinitely less frightening. Uneasily, Hiccup held out the fish once again, and slowly the dragon approached, opening its mouth wide, revealing pink gums. Hiccup peered closer, confused. "Toothless? I could have sworn you had-" without warning razor-sharp teeth appeared in its mouth and it snatched the fish out of his hands, swallowing it in one bite. "- teeth." Hiccup finished with a gulp."

Aeri told them of the dragons' ritual of regurgitating a fish in gratitude or in companionship ("I know, I know, it's gross, but in order to not risk offending the dragon, he had to take a bite.") "Then, when Hiccup smiled, to prove that he had indeed swallowed the fish, the dragon did something that no one could have ever expected. Its face twisted into a strange grimace, to Hiccup's concern, before one corner of its mouth stretched open, followed by the other side. The dragon was _smiling, _a toothless impersonation of a human gesture."

She spoke of Hiccup's experience of _drawing _with the dragon, how the strange patterns it drew in the dirt led Hiccup on a strange sort of dance that ended with his back almost touching the creature's chest. The moment they bonded. When Hiccup realized that if his newfound friend couldn't fly, he couldn't get away. 'A downed dragon is a dead dragon.' "Hiccup knew in his heart that he would never let anything harm that dragon if he had anything to do with it, so he did what no one else could, or even would if they knew the truth. He constructed a prosthetic tailfin for the dragon, who he called Toothless, and so began their attempts to return him to the sky."

Vahna stood in the crowd, flanked by Asti and Alkaa. She listened closely as Rádgatá shared the story of her father. All the mishaps along the way to real flight, from the first jump to falling from the sky. Hiccup's learning of so many dragon secrets that allowed him to mysteriously do exceedingly well in his training. When Hiccup's father returned and found out his son was succeeding miraculously in dragon training, and gave him his very own helmet ("breast hat" as Rádgatá so eloquently put it.)

"Then came the final day of training, to determine which recruit would come in first. It was Hiccup against Astrid, who had become increasingly frustrated with Hiccup's magical ability to control dragons in the ring. She told him in no uncertain terms to stay out of her way. She was winning this thing. The two were in the ring, before a crowd of excited onlookers. Even as Astrid prepared herself to strike, the dragon had found Hiccup, who was forced to use one of his tricks to knock it out, rather than harm it. The elder decided: it would not be Astrid, the most capable warrior of her age. It would be Hiccup, the weakling, the screw-up. He would be the one to go on to take the final exam, something he dreaded with all his heart. For the recruit who did best in training earned the (dubious) honor of killing his (or her) first dragon in front of the entire village.

"Needless to say, that wasn't an option in Hiccup's mind. So he packed up a basket and headed to the cove as the sun started to set. He called out to the dragon, kneeling next to a large rock to check his supplies. But instead of Toothless, when he stood up, he saw Astrid sitting before him on the rock, sharpening her axe. Something had boiled over in her, and she was determined to learn Hiccup's secret. For she knew he had one. No one got as good as he did, _especially _him.

"She confronted him, setting in motion a series of events that would change Hiccup's life forever. After seeing and nearly being mauled by Toothless, she ran, forcing Hiccup and Toothless to essentially kidnap her to try and change her mind. Toothless, with his usual mischievousness, performed a series of intense and purposefully terrifying maneuvers, flying up high before diving straight down into the ocean, as though trying to shake her off. Finally, as they spun almost uncontrollably from the sky, Astrid broke. She apologized, profusely, begging Hiccup to let her off.

"As if he had been waiting for those words, Toothless suddenly leveled out, soaring smoothly through the sky. Astrid opened her eyes to see the beauty of the setting sun, and was filled with awe. Toothless flew higher, taking them through the clouds, before emerging in the night, lit by the full moon. They flew out over the island, seeing the tiny lights glimmering far below them.

"Something changed in Astrid's heart, then. Hiccup wasn't a useless weakling. He had _trained _a _Night Fury_, and introduced her to a world she never knew existed, seeing her life from above. Nothing would ever be the same. But the evening wasn't over. She was asking Hiccup what he was going to do about his final exam when suddenly, a strange noise filled the air, and Toothless dove into a bank of fog. Confused, Hiccup asked him what was wrong, but the dragon only shook his head. Out of nowhere, a Monstrous Nightmare appeared, carrying an enormous fish in its claws. Hiccup and Astrid ducked low onto Toothless's back, as the dense fog suddenly seemed to fill up with hundreds of dragons, all apparently hauling in their kill.

"As you can imagine, that was not reassuring to the two humans. The horde of dragons dodged enormous sea stacks looming in the fog, before a strange red glow appeared in the mist. Then, the source of the light was revealed: It was the dragons' nest.

"The dragons all flew in through a crack in the mountainside, emerging into a massive cavern filled with more mist. All of the dragons dropped their kill into that mist, a seemingly bottomless pit. Toothless flew them up high and hid them behind a rock column, and the three of them peered out at the glowing pit nervously. Finally, one last dragon flew in and dropped a small fish into the hole, seemingly pleased with itself. A tremendous growl filled the cavern, and from the depths of the pit an enormous head suddenly rose, its jaws closing around the lone dragon. Hiccup and Astrid looked on in horror as the immense creature began sniffing the air, as if it sensed their presence. Without warning, it lunged, and Toothless barely got out of the way in time to escape its teeth. Every dragon in the nest took off, spiraling out of the top of the mountain in a loud cacophony of shrieks and roars as the great beast rose farther out of the mist of the pit, attempting to catch Toothless with the humans on his back. They escaped, and after the shock wore off, Hiccup and Astrid realized what they had just seen. The nest was like a beehive. All of the dragons were the workers, and the enormous monster in the cavern was their queen. It controlled them."

Murmuring filled the crowd as the implications of what Rádgatá said were realized. Haku was stunned. Were the dragons that attacked Heimme also under the control of a Queen? Could the nightmare possibly end? But Rádgatá wasn't finished.

"Once Toothless had landed back in the cove, Astrid leapt off his back. "We have to tell your dad!" But Hiccup knew that he couldn't tell his father of the nest, not yet. The Vikings would surely kill Toothless if they knew of his presence on their island. "We have to think this through, carefully," he told her. This irked Astrid. "We just discovered the dragons' nest, the thing Vikings have been after since they first sailed here, and you want to keep it a secret? To protect your _pet dragon? _Are you serious?" He was. All of the outrage left Astrid, and she sounded almost as helpless as Hiccup felt. "Then what do we do?" Hiccup's final exam was the next day, after all. "Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out." Then she punched him, then shocked him by kissing him on the cheek. Seeming almost as surprised as he was, she ran off into the night, leaving a pleasantly stunned Hiccup in the cove with a curious looking Toothless.

"The next day, the entire village gathered around the arena to watch Hiccup slay his first dragon. His father, the Chief, gave a short speech as Hiccup waited in the hall leading to the gate that opened to the ring, the enormous caged space where Hiccup had applied his newfound knowledge of dragons so many times. Now, it was meant to serve an entirely different purpose, one that Hiccup had no intention of fulfilling. Stoick joked around a bit, referring to Hiccup's past tendencies to wreak havoc. "But no one is more surprised- or more proud- than I am," he finished, his voice echoing in the hallway. Hiccup was in physical discomfort from what he was about to do, his heart filled with turmoil."

The entire village was silent with fearful anticipation as Rádgatá spoke. Haku realized that at some point during her story, dragons no longer seemed like the enemy. They were more misunderstood than anything else, like the boy in her story, he supposed, thinking of the time he'd spent with Rádgatá's black dragon in the forest that morning. He was clearly a fearsome creature, but with a gentler, more peaceful side, not to mention his obvious sense of humor. Were all dragons like that? With personalities of their own, with their own thoughts and perspectives on the world? Haku shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts to listen as Rádgatá continued her story.

"Astrid walked down to stand near him. "Be careful with that dragon." Looking through the bars at his father sitting in the Chief's ceremonial seat, Hiccup replied, "It's not the dragon that I'm worried about." Deeply concerned, she asked, "What are you going to do?" "Put an end to this. I have to try," he said, pained. "Astrid, if something… goes _wrong_, just make sure they don't find Toothless." For once revealing her true feelings, Astrid couldn't help but say more. "I will. Just promise me it won't go wrong." But Hiccup couldn't promise her that, and before he could reply, Gobber, the blacksmith and trainer, approached. "It's time, Hiccup. Knock him dead." Grimly, Hiccup entered the ring as the gate opened, placing his helmet on his head and pulling a shield and small dagger off of the weapon rack in the center of the caged space.

"Determined, Hiccup announced just loudly enough to be heard, "I'm ready," facing a large, bolted door. Slowly the heavy lock creaked open, and from the depths of its pen a Monstrous Nightmare burst forth, its entire body coated in flames. Furiously it tore around the arena, crawling upside down on the bars and chains making up the top of the cage and blasting fire at the crowd of Vikings, who barely got out of the way in time. Finally it made its way back to the center of the ring and lowered itself back to the ground, the fire on its hide gradually fading as it approached Hiccup, eyeing the boy's dagger and shield. A hush fell over the crowd in anticipation of the coming fight, but instead of raising his blade against the enormous creature, Hiccup deliberately cast aside his weapon, dropping it and his shield to the side. Curious, the Monstrous Nightmare paused, even as the Viking crowd burst into fervent whispers, and Stoick the Vast leaned forward. "What is he doing?" The Nightmare crept closer, eyeing Hiccup's helmet. "It's okay, it's okay…" he soothed it, before removing his helmet and locking eyes with his father. "I'm not one of them." He tossed his helmet to the ground, and with an echoing clang, he renounced his place in the tribe.

"Shocked, many of the Vikings gasped, wondering what in the world had gotten into the boy. As the Nightmare looked at Hiccup with newfound interest, the crowd turned to look at their Chief. Anger rising, Stoick said, "Stop the fight." Hiccup wouldn't have it, though. "No! I need you all to see this." The Vikings' restlessness built, as he continued, the dragon's pupils widening as it slowly inched closer to Hiccup's outstretched hand. "They're not what we think they are," he said firmly, doing his best to keep the Nightmare calm. "We don't have to kill them." Exploding with fury, Stoick leapt from his seat and brought his hammer down on the bars of the cage, denting them with a loud _bang_, shouting, "I said, _STOP THE FIGHT!_"

"Startled, the Nightmare's pupils turned back to slits and it snapped at Hiccup's arm, the spell broken. Hiccup leapt back with a shout, and ran as the dragon breathed fire after him. He ran to the weapon rack for a shield but the dragon was almost upon him, and it smashed the rack underfoot. Panicking, Astrid wedged an axe under the gate and squeezed through the opening, grabbing a large hammer from the weapon rack and hurling it at the Nightmare's head, causing it to turn and chase her instead. Stoick pushed through the crowd, running to the gate to the arena and throwing it open with one hand, doing the same to the inner gate. "This way!" he shouted, and Astrid ran to him, making it to the hallway. Hiccup followed, but before he could reach them, the Nightmare sprayed the doorway with a stream of molten fire, and he fell back as the dragon pounced on him, trapping him in its enormous claws. Without warning an intensely familiar whistle built, and before anyone could react the side of the arena cage exploded open and a black blur flew through the hole into the rising smoke.

"Later, Hiccup would wonder how Toothless could have possibly escaped the cove and found his way to the arena, but in the moment he was just stunned that his dragon had come to fight for him. The Nightmare was pulled off of him and out of the smoky cloud as the smaller black dragon clung to its back, clawing and biting. The Vikings were treated to their first glimpse of a Night Fury as Toothless fought to protect Hiccup. The Nightmare threw Toothless onto his back and attempted to attack him while he was vulnerable, but the Night Fury just kicked him away, leaping to his feet and getting between the angry Nightmare and Hiccup, roaring in warning, warding the other dragon away from his human. Finally, the Nightmare turned and darted away in defeat, and Hiccup ran to Toothless, who looked defiant as the Vikings began dropping down into the arena, weapons drawn as they rushed to attack. "Go!" he shouted at the Night Fury, who refused to leave his side.

"Stoick raised his hammer and charged towards Toothless, who jumped into action, knocking several Vikings away effortlessly as he focused on the human Chief running at him. He pounced on Hiccup's father, sending them tumbling end over end. "Toothless! _Stop!_" Hiccup shouted as the Night Fury pinned the enormous Viking, leaning back and inhaling, the familiar hiss of gas building in his throat reaching everyone's ears. "_NO!_" Hiccup cried, and confused, Toothless closed his mouth, looking back at his rider with some confusion. In an instant, the Vikings rushed him, hauling Toothless off of Stoick and piling on him to pin him to the ground. Astrid had to hold Hiccup back as he fought to reach his dragon, desperate to keep them from hurting his best friend. Stumbling to his feet, his father was handed an axe by another Viking, but after making eye contact with the trapped Night Fury, he shoved it back at the other man, shouting, "Put it with the others!" Then his enraged gaze landed on Hiccup."

The people of Heimme were stunned. It was almost too much to take in, but Rádgatá still wasn't finished. The worst was yet to come.

"Stoick hauled Hiccup up and shoved him into the darkened Great Hall, sending him stumbling forward. Hiccup would never forget the following conversation, which escalated quickly. "He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous!" Hiccup cried. "They've killed _hundreds _of us!" his father leaned in, face dark with rage. "And we've killed thousands of them!" Hiccup yelled back with equal intensity. "They defend themselves, that's all!" he tried to explain as his father resumed his pacing. "They raid us because they have to. If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. There's something else on their island, Dad, it's a dragon like-"

"His father cut him off with a fearsome expression. "Their _island?_ So you've been to the nest," he whispered harshly. Hiccup realized he had said too much. "How did you find it?!" Stoick demanded. "No… I didn't, Toothless did, only a dragon can find it…" His father's angry glare transformed into a frightening expression of dawning realization. Hiccup immediately understood, and tried to stop his enormous father as he turned and began striding from the hall. "No, no Dad, please, no!" he cried, panicking. "Dad, it's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen!" He grabbed his father's giant arm, trying to stop him. "Dad, please, I promise you that you can't win this one!" Stoick didn't respond as he walked. "No, Dad, no. _For once in your life,_ _would you please just listen to me?!_" His father shoved him away with one motion of his arm, sending him tumbling to the ground. Hiccup stared up at Stoick's silhouette in the doorway, the moment burning into his mind. "You've thrown your lot in with them," the angry Chief said icily. "You're not a Viking… you're not my son." With that he turned and shoved his way through the gigantic hall doors, his voice echoing across the village as he called out for the Vikings to ready the ships."

Aeri looked out at all of the faces watching her so intensely, and a funny feeling spread through her chest. She had managed to distance herself from the fact that this was the story of her father, but still it was strange that it had managed to captivate so many who were so vehemently opposed to the notion of _not _fighting dragons. Well, there was one more dragon fight to be had, but the sun was setting, and she wanted to get back to Shade.

Stretching her arms out and rolling her shoulders, she pushed away from where she was leaning against the counter, glancing back at Haku's and Vasara's wide eyed faces before turning to look at the crowd. _The whole village must be out here,_ she thought. "I think that's a good stopping point for today, don't you?"

Immediately the villagers burst out into protests.

"No!"

"You have to finish the story!"

"You can't just leave us hanging!"

She held up one hand and everyone quieted. "I'm tired now, and I imagine that I have kept you all from your lives long enough. I'll be back tomorrow, and I'll tell you all how the story ends. Believe me, it's not close to being over yet."

Smiling crookedly, she shooed them. "Go on, get to it," she said gently. Grumbling and shooting her frustrated glances, the people of Heimme slowly drifted away, and Aeri turned back to the table, preparing to put her armor back on.

Haku watched her, still stunned. She undid a few buckles, lifting up her chest plate, when someone cleared their throat behind them. Turning, he, Rádgatá, and Vasara were somewhat surprised to see Vahna standing there, flanked by Asti and Alkaa, who were both watching Rádgatá with some awe.

"What an interesting story," the old woman began, coming closer. Rádgatá simply nodded. "I don't suppose you might come back with me to my house so I can check your stitches?"

_Stitches? _Haku wondered, confused.

Rádgatá replied, "No, I don't think I can. He's been waiting for me all day, I don't want to leave him any longer."

"It's been a while," the old woman pressed.

"I've been caring for the wound," Rádgatá said patiently. "It seems to be healing well."

"Come, now, surely you don't intend to remove them yourself?"

"It wouldn't be the first time I've had to do something like that." Seeing the frown on Vahna's face, Rádgatá relented. "Fine. You can check them here, right now, before I put my armor back on."

The old woman raised an eyebrow, glancing at Haku, before turning back to Rádgatá. "Are you sure?"

The not-so-strange-anymore stranger raised an eyebrow in return. "Weren't you just busy convincing me that you needed to see them?"

"I suppose you're right. Vasara," she turned to Haku's sister, who looked surprised at being addressed. "Do you have a stool? Rádgatá here is a little too tall for me to see her wound." It was true, Vahna stood a foot shorter than Rádgatá, who looked somewhat amused. Vasara turned and began looking over the chest plate again, running her fingers along the padded regions and nodding, muttering under her breath.

Without further ado, Rádgatá undid a series of laces on the front of her leather and cloth body suit and shrugged her right shoulder out of its sleeve. Haku's eyes widened upon seeing the smooth expanse of her bare skin, until his gaze focused in on a long row of neat stitches running across her bicep.

"What happened to you?" he asked incredulously. _That was going to leave a scar. _

Rádgatá raised her eyebrow again, and Haku felt his cheeks redden. _What the… _

"Pirates," she responded matter-of-factly, leaving him feeling more confused than ever.

"Have you been bandaging it?" Vahna was asking her.

"Today is the first day I've gone without," she responded, looking away from Haku.

"Well, the cut looks like it's healing well enough." The old woman poked at it and Rádgatá winced. Noticing this, she continued, "Come see me in a few days and we'll see if those stitches are ready to come out."

"Of course." Rádgatá reached over with her left hand and began tugging her sleeve back over her shoulder. Haku found himself staring at a thin gold chain on her disappearing collarbone as she redid the laces on her bodysuit, and quickly looked away, only to see Vahna watching him with a knowing gaze. Slightly embarrassed, he looked down at the ground. The ground was safe.

Aeri stood and smiled as Vasara handed her the chest armor, looking after it longingly as she put it back over her shoulders, buckling all of the various straps and wiggling her shoulders into place. Grabbing her helmet off of the counter, she wished Vasara, Vahna, Asti, and Alkaa a good evening before turning to Haku, who was staring at the ground for some reason.

"You ready?" she asked, and he looked up as if surprised to see her.

"Ready?"

"Well, I promised you a flight, didn't I?"

Before he could answer, Vasara interrupted from behind them. "A _flight? _You mean, on your _dragon?_"

Craning her neck to look behind her, she grinned at the shorter woman, who looked incredulous. "That is exactly what I mean. Would you care to join us?"

Her eyes widened and she quickly shook her head. "Um, that's alright. Maybe some other time." Aeri couldn't help but laugh as the blacksmith turned to her brother. "You sure you know what you're doing?"

"Well, they didn't kill me last time, right?"

"I guess so…" she didn't sound entirely convinced, so Aeri reassured her.

"Don't worry. I'll bring him back safe and sound."

"Yeah," Haku said. "I'll see you later tonight, if you're still up."

"Probably will be," Vasara said, regaining her composure.

"Alright. See you then," Haku said, turning back to Aeri. "Ready?"

"If you are."

Vasara watched as they walked back up the street, her brother next to the tall, mysterious stranger, with her unique helmet tucked under one arm. She felt remorseful over her earlier treatment of _Missti Einn_, but still wondered if she could trust the other woman. Her brother seemed to, even to the point of actually _enjoying _her company. Which was interesting, as Haku had never really shown interest in any of the women in the village before.

Maybe it was because she was so different. _Who knows? _With a shrug, Vasara turned back to her forge, picking up her hammer and getting right back to work.

* * *

><p>But Vasara wasn't the only one watching as Haku and Rádgatá wandered out of the village. Ajaa's brown eyes narrowed at the sight of them walking side by side, talking and laughing. Haku looked like he was enjoying the stranger's company, which put a kink in her plans. While she could no longer count on her "friendship" with Vasara to get her close to Haku, she still intended to win him over, if not with her personality then with her looks. Without a doubt Ajaa knew she was the most beautiful woman on Heimme, with curly blonde hair, big eyes and full, sensuous lips. She had at least half a dozen suitors her age eating out of the palm of her hand, not to mention the older single (and sometimes not single) men of the village, so why wouldn't Haku?<p>

She would just have to try harder. In the mean time, she would just have to wait and do her best to keep the stranger _strange. _If she could find some flaw in the tall woman's story, or her character, she could use it to persuade the other villagers to drive the stranger away for her. Then Haku would surely be hers. A wicked smile spread on her face, and smugly she turned away, her doubt abating. It didn't matter _what _that old woman thought. Anyone who consorted with dragons was obviously a threat, obviously insane, and obviously not to be trusted. _Time to get to work._

* * *

><p><strong>Oh snap ;) Just how much of a problem is Ajaa going to be? I guess we will have to wait and see. See you Friday!<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

Shade quickly made his way around the perimeter of the village, staying out of sight in the shadowy forest. He ended up back at the small clearing they had been in that morning, ears perked as he waited for Aeri and the boy to arrive.

_Well, _he thought as the two humans pushed their way through the brush, _maybe not a boy. _Haku was pretty tall, after all. And not many _boys_ sported that kind of stubble along their jaws. But Shade wasn't sure he wanted his female human to be hanging out with a _man_, so Haku would remain a boy for now.

"-we'll stay away from the village for now. Wouldn't want to alarm anyone," Aeri was saying, and Haku nodded his agreement.

She turned to Shade with a smile, coming up to scratch him behind his ears. "Ready to go for a flight?"

"Am I ever _not?_" he responded, and though Aeri had no way of understanding his speech, as usual she seemed to comprehend his meaning, and her smile brightened.

Haku once again was mystified as Rádgatá said, "Well, alright then!" Holding her helmet under one arm, she grabbed onto the edge of the saddle with her other hand and nimbly leapt up onto her dragon's shoulders. Without hesitating she reached back and twisted her hair into an approximation of a bun before lowering her helmet over her head, tucking the edges of her collar and stray hairs underneath the edge. She turned to look at Haku, but he couldn't see her eyes, only shadows in the holes on the mask. He spent a moment taking in the sight of this strange woman on the back of the most powerful dragon he had ever encountered. They were an intimidating pair, the dragon with his all-seeing gaze and the mysterious, faceless rider. In fact, they were both anonymous figures, as much as he felt he had gotten to know them. He did not know their true names, and for some reason that made them seem unreachable to him.

Rádgatá seemed to notice his evaluation and spoke, her voice muffled from within her helmet. "Ready?"

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Haku gave her a nervous smile. "I suppose so."

She held out her hand, an invitation he realized later he never could have refused. Reaching up, he grabbed hold of her arm and did his best to swing up in the saddle behind her, almost toppling off the other side. Laughing behind her mask, she said to him, "You'll get the hang of it eventually." Not entirely convinced, Haku gently placed his hands on either side of her slim waist, forcing himself to think nothing of it. Rádgatá leaned forward and murmured something into Dreki's ear, before looking back at Haku, who was beginning to question his own sanity.

"Here we go!" her muffled voice was cheerful, and Haku felt the dragon crouch just before he launched straight up into the air, rising vertically to fly clear of the tops of the trees around the small clearing. Without thinking he immediately wrapped his arms completely around Rádgatá, not caring what she thought, just doing his best to stay in the saddle.

"Don't close your eyes!" he heard her call back at him, and with no small amount of anxiety he obeyed as they soared barely above the green canopy, flying away from the village. When they reached the base of the first mountain, Dreki ascended in a gradual spiral around the peak, before suddenly shooting straight up into the sky, wings beating hard to gain altitude. Haku felt his stomach drop and clung tighter to Rádgatá, feeling her body shake a few times as she laughed at his nervousness. Her amusement no longer irritated him, in fact, it managed to put him slightly at ease.

"You're enjoying my fear! You're sadistic!" he shouted at her good-naturedly, and he could hear her bark of laughter.

"I must be," she replied as Dreki leveled out just beneath the clouds. Haku could barely make out her words as she leaned forward to speak to her dragon. "What do you say we show him our evil side, bud?"

That didn't sound like Haku's idea of a good time, and he hurriedly interrupted her. "I don't think that's-" Dreki tilted onto his side and promptly began to fall from the sky. "-_NECESSARY!_" his cry was lost in the wind as they spun around wildly, the wind buffeting them as they fell. To top it off, Rádgatá raised her arms up high, nearly giving Haku a heart attack.

"WOOHOO!" she exclaimed, clearly thrilled. Haku, on the other hand, while thankful he wasn't prone to motion sickness, doubted that he could withstand much more of their insanity, even though it had only been a few seconds. He realized how tightly he was holding onto her, and briefly wondered if she was having a hard time breathing, before deciding that he didn't care so long as she insisted on purposefully terrifying him.

"Okay, okay!" he shouted in her ear. "I think you've proven your point, Rádgatá!"

The dragon flipped upright, seemingly without communicating with Rádgatá, and slowly unfurled his wings. The wind filled them with a sudden jolt, startling Haku, before they smoothly spiraled down towards the peak of the mountain. Dreki flapped his wings once, twice to control their descent, then landed on a flat stretch of rock on the side of the mountain large enough for the three of them to stretch out.

Without further ado, the dragon dropped to his stomach, lounging on the wide ledge. Peering over the side, Haku saw a sheer cliff stretching far below them, and gulping, he pressed his face between Rádgatá's shoulder blades.

"Haku. Haku," she said again from behind her helmet. "You can let go now."

"I don't think so," he mumbled, eyes shut tight.

She had the audacity to laugh again, and Haku felt her gloved hands come up to rest on top of where his own were clasped over her stomach. "It's kind of hard to breathe with you clinging to me like that." He could hear the smile in her voice as she began prying his fingers apart.

"What if we fall?!"

"Then my dragon will catch us. I would recommend getting off on the side _without _the cliff." Finally escaping his grip, she slid off the saddle and Haku promptly fell forward, hands instinctively reaching out to keep him from smacking his face against the dragon's neck. Slightly incredulous, he turned to see Rádgatá pulling off her helmet, her long hair spilling over her shoulders. Tying it to one of the straps on the side of the saddle, she grinned at him and held out a gloved hand. "Come on, Haku."

Slowly he reached out, and she almost had to pull him off the dragon. Stumbling to his feet, his knees shaking, Haku's stunned expression quickly darkened into a scowl. "You think this is funny, Rádgatá?" he demanded.

"Extremely," she said lightly, turning and picking her way over the uneven rock, moving to stand farther down the edge, about where the end of the dragon's tail was curling and uncurling out in mid-air. "Well? Come here," she sat down and scooted forward until her legs were dangling over the edge.

_Well, _Haku thought, _I'm already up here. Why not? _He followed her path and copied her movements, coming up next to her.

"Look at that," she said, and he looked out, immediately taken aback.

The island was laid out before them, the forest spreading from one side to the other. The sun was setting in the west, transforming the blue sky with its scattered puffy clouds into a riot of oranges, yellows, and pinks. Beyond the forest were the farms, and Haku could see the faint lights of his village as the people prepared for night. Beyond that was the ocean, glittering in the fading daylight.

"Wow," he whispered. "I suppose you see this kind of thing all the time."

Rádgatá nodded slightly. "But I never, ever get used to it."

Haku found his mind filling with questions, wondering about her and her past. But he barely knew her, how could he ask her to share personal information with him? "Is… is the sunset like this where you are from?" he asked hesitantly.

For a moment she said nothing, and Haku worried that he might have crossed a line by bringing up her past. "Yes," she said quietly, not looking at him.

They watched as night began to spread from the eastern sky, revealing a handful of twinkling stars. "I've always wondered if the stars are the same for everyone," Haku said, gazing at the heavens.

"They aren't," Aeri replied slowly. "I mean, perhaps they _mean _the same thing for some people, but the stars themselves change, constellations spinning ever so slowly between nights, revealing new stars as the seasons change. But they always return," she said as an afterthought. _Would she ever return? _Her fate was so unknown to her, her purpose, her true self. Did she belong on Berk, or was she really being called to faraway lands like Heimme, destined to spend the rest of her life in motion? Part of her liked the notion of seeing it all, learning everything she could about the world. After all, home was where the heart was, and her heart was firmly with Shade. But another, stronger part of her longed for some stability, a home of her own, with a family. _You have a family,_ a small voice said in the back of her head, and she frowned. _No, I don't. Not anymore. _Shade was her family. But when she saw how Haku so obviously cared for his sisters, she could only be reminded of her own siblings, that they were growing up, and that she was not there to see it happen. _What if something happened to them, and I never got to say goodbye? _

Swallowing back her sudden upset, Aeri pulled off her gloves a bit roughly, staring down at her hands. They were rather slender, but clearly used to hard work. Callouses and scars marred her light skin, and she felt as though her hands reflected a part of her spirit, beaten up and recovered, only to be hurt again, prolonging the process, leaving scars and sometimes even open wounds. Wounds that just wouldn't heal.

Shade could almost hear the gears turning in Aeri's mind as he watched her out of the corner of his eye. He sensed that she was dealing with an unusual amount of inner turmoil. _It better not have anything to do with that boy._ But before his thoughts could travel in that direction, she spoke.

"Do you… ever fight with your parents?" she asked Haku suddenly, and Shade was unwillingly reminded of the last conversation he had with his father. Well, the last shouting match. He refused to even think of the last dragon he had spoken to before they had left Berk.

"Well," Haku began, and Shade returned his attention to the humans. "My mother died while giving birth to Maara. So I never reached the age of rebelliousness with her. My father, well, he's a different story. But he… he's not in a position to argue any more. So I guess it doesn't matter." He paused. "Do you?"

Shade wondered what Aeri would say. She made a point of disguising her past, suppressing her memories, doing her best like Shade to forget.

"I… I did," she whispered, bringing up one knee and tucking it beneath her chin. Haku turned to look at her face, which for once was expressing emotion. But it was a mask of confusion, and pain, her eyes wide as she stared at a point on the horizon.

"What happened?" he asked gently.

"I… they… I left." And just like that, the emotion was gone, replaced by a completely indifferent expression. Haku was unprepared for the sudden change, but he wasn't entirely surprised by it.

"You left?" he pressed.

"Yes." She finally turned to look at him, still holding her knee close to her chest. Her green eyes were unreadable as the breeze shifted stray strands of her hair.

"What happened to your father, Haku?"

Frowning slightly, he wondered how to answer her, turning his gaze back out to the vista before them. "There was a raid," he said finally. "A few months ago. The dragons had the upper hand, and were destroying everything in sight. Some of the women had gathered the children to take them into the forest, but one little girl strayed away, perhaps frightened by the noise and fire. Not to mention the enormous monsters attacking the village. In any case, the little girl was wandering through the streets of burning buildings, holding her doll and crying uncontrollably. We saw her around the same time the dragons did, and Lyse and I ran to rescue her as a Flashfang backed her up against a burning house.

"Lyse shouted at me to grab the girl while she distracted the dragon, and I obeyed without question. But the dragon was intent on the girl, and when I ran to get her out of the way, it immediately recognized me as a threat. It raised its tail- I don't know if you are familiar with Flashfangs, but their tails are covered in poisonous spines that they can throw like darts. I covered the girl with my body, but right before the spines hit me…" he paused, as the intensity of the moment welled up within him. "I waited for them to pierce me, with my eyes closed tightly. When nothing happened, I opened my eyes to see Lyse laying on the ground in front of us, half a dozen spikes sticking out of her torso."

"Who… who is Lyse?"

"Lyse… was my older sister. The heir to the chiefdom of Heimme. My father, seeing his most loved child lying as though dead before a dragon, attacked without thinking, running at the dragon with his axe raised. I was too stunned to react, still holding the girl as I stared at my sister's face. My father engaged the dragon, landing a few blows before the creature turned and swatted him down with its tail, his head smashing against a rock on the ground. The dragon flew off, following its brethren as they returned to wherever they came from.

"Lyse was breathing, shallower and shallower, her body beginning to shake from the effects of the poison. She and I had never gotten along particularly well, as she was the favored child and I was the disappointment of our father. But seeing the fear on her face as the blood spread through her tunic and past her armor, as her body went cold, as her heart slowed… I will never forget.

"My father, when he awoke, was gone. He does not recognize us. He cannot walk or speak or feed himself. He always hated me… I don't know why. I wasn't as perfect as Lyse but I never did anything particularly bad. He must have seen something in me that I have not noticed yet, a thought that still haunts me. I'm not sure whether or not Lyse was trying to save me or the little girl, but either way, she died and I lived. I suppose the only blessing is that my father isn't able to comprehend what happened and blame me for it, to make me suffer for it more than I already have."

Now, Aeri realized what Haku had meant when she had first arrived, when he had spoken to the people, saying that he of all people had reason to fear and hate dragons. Instead, he had placed his life in her hands, choosing to place himself in harm's way for a chance to end his people's suffering.

Haku continued. "Now, I'm in line to be Chief, and I don't want the job. But someone has to do it, and people are counting on me to lead them well, placing their trust in me as they trusted my father. It's just that Lyse was always the leader, always the favorite, always dependable. I have always preferred to be on my own, to spend time in the woods, but now my life is spent in the village, helping settle disputes and organize supplies and make plans and speeches… Lyse was meant to be Chief. My father wasn't the greatest Chief Heimme has ever seen by any means, but Lyse promised to be better. Now they're both gone, and I have to somehow make myself someone I don't think I can be, to do what's best for my people."

Aeri couldn't speak. She wanted to reassure him, but she was haunted by her last conversation with her own father- last _argument. _The fight that sent her running. She hadn't wanted to be Chief, but instead of displaying wisdom and understanding, instead of accepting her role with dignity and determination, she had done the most selfish thing she possibly could have, running away and taking with her the firstborn of the Alpha dragon, who had most likely been in line to become Alpha himself someday. Now, because of her, Erik, who had been even more vehemently opposed the idea of becoming Chief than she had, was going to become Chief someday. _What have I done? _

But it was too late to change her choices. Now, she understood. And while she might not be able to make amends for her past actions, she could ensure that she dedicated her life to making the world a better place in whatever little ways she could. Starting here, on Heimme.

"Haku… you aren't a disappointment to your people. They love you, admire you, and respect you. You want what's best for them, and they know that. You put your life on the line for them, not just during raids, but when a stranger riding on a dragon appeared, you chose to potentially sacrifice yourself in the hopes that perhaps you could end the war plaguing your village. I know enough about Chiefs to be able to say that sometimes the greatest leaders come from the most unexpected of places. Your position as the Chief's son might make more sense than most, but you can still be just as great a leader as Lyse, perhaps even greater."

The sun was gone, leaving only a faint glow along the horizon. The sky was filled with stars, glittering, and Haku felt close enough to touch them.

"I envy you," he said, allowing some of his frustration to show. "I envy that you have a companion as loyal, as fierce, as intelligent as Dreki. I envy that when life gets tough or dangerous you have the option of simply flying away. Not that you would always choose to do so, but if you wanted to leave, you could do so at any time. I'm not so sure I would be able to resist that temptation. I think that if I had a dragon of my own, I would have left long ago. I envy that you have the freedom to do that, and I envy that you would probably choose to stay anyways."

Shade couldn't suppress the overwhelming sense of guilt that washed over him at Haku's words. He knew from Aeri's stillness that she was experiencing the same thing. The boy believed them to be more noble, more honorable than they were. The truth was, they were cowards, who had run away rather than face responsibility. _Not anymore._ Shade now understood Aeri's desire to stay on Heimme. Where she had failed on Berk, she could do right here. She could serve people as she was born to, even if they weren't her people in the first place.

Shade hoped somewhere along the line a few dragons might come along to keep him company, but he had given up hope of having his own family. He would likely be a failure as a father anyways. Hearing Haku's story, he recognized that Aeri had a chance at redemption, though, and he would do whatever it took to make sure she reached that point. He had sworn himself to her happiness and safety, and he would not fail her. Not now, not ever.

"What about you?" Haku was asking Aeri.

"What about me?"

"Your name isn't Rádgatá, or _Missti Einn._"

"I know."

"What is it?"

She looked at him, once again unreadable in the darkness. "It doesn't matter anymore."

For some reason, it mattered to Haku. But he wasn't going to press her. Before he could speak again, though, Rádgatá quickly got to her feet. "I should return you to your people."

Haku wanted to protest, but he didn't have a good enough reason for doing so. So, he nodded, standing and backing away from the ledge. When he looked over at Rádgatá, she had already returned her helmet to her head, and was mounting her dragon's shoulders.

She didn't say anything as she waited for him to make his way over. In silence, she helped pull him up onto the saddle, and without a sound the dragon stood and spread his wings, letting the wind fill them before stepping off the ledge. Haku wrapped his arms around Rádgatá's waist again, but this time he wasn't sure if he was afraid of falling, or if he just craved human contact. Perhaps a little bit of both.

When they landed back at the clearing, he slid off the dragon's shoulders, offering him a light pat on his neck in thanks. Looking up at Rádgatá, Haku found that her mask somehow created an unbridgeable gap between them. He was relatively certain she was watching him, too, but doubt lingered. He had shared some of the deepest matters of turmoil in his life, and had learned nothing of her, except that she had faith in him. Which was nice, but he would prefer to know her better, too.

"Will you be back tomorrow?" he asked her, and she gave him a short nod, still not speaking. Stepping back, Haku wondered what had caused her to close up in this way as Dreki crouched and spread his wings, making no more than a whisper of sound when he leapt into the sky. Even after they were gone, Haku remained, lost in his thoughts.

When he finally made his way back to the house, he was greeted by his youngest sister.

"Vasara went to bed, but she told me that _Missti Einn _told the whole village an amazing story! I wish I could have been there."

"Well, she didn't finish the story, so tomorrow, if you want, you should come and hear the end."

"I don't want to hear only part of it, though. Could you… well, if you aren't going to sleep, could you maybe tell it to me?"

Haku figured that even if he went to bed, he'd just lie awake thinking, so he nodded. "I can do that."

A while later, when the candles were almost completely burned out, Haku finished where Rádgatá had left off. "And that's where she stopped."

Maara's eyes were wide. "That's… the best story I have ever heard. But how could she stop there?! That's just cruel."

Haku couldn't help but laugh quietly. "I agree, and I think everyone else in the village does, too. She said she hadn't even gotten to the most important part yet, so we will just have to wait until tomorrow to hear the rest."

"Wow…" Maara paused. "_Missti Einn _is very tall, Haku."

The abrupt change of subject threw him off a bit. "She is, isn't she?"

"Do you think I'll be that tall?" _Oh. _Haku almost laughed again.

"It's hard to say. Vasara is only a little taller than you now, and Lyse was only a little taller than Vasara."

"But you're so tall!"

"Then I suppose we will have to wait and see, won't we?"

"I hate waiting," his sister grumbled, and Haku grinned affectionately.

"All the best things in life are worth waiting for, wouldn't you agree?" he asked, pulling her into a hug.

"Maybe," she mumbled into his chest. "I still hate it, though."

"I do too," he replied, his thoughts wandering again. "I do too."

* * *

><p>Once they were back in the meadow, Aeri pulled off her helmet, rubbing her face with her hand. The past was determined to haunt her, it seemed. <em>Well, let it haunt,<em> she thought crossly. _It doesn't change anything. _No. She had given her word to help the people of Heimme, and she would do so, regardless of one man's problems. Regardless of how interesting she found that man.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed, kicking at the grass. Shade looked up at her, concerned.

"We were wrong, Shade. We both know it. Why can't I get over it? I can't change it. I don't want to change it… do I? No. I don't. We were meant to leave. Hey, maybe we'll go back someday. But that day is a long, long, _looong _way away. Maybe when we're old, and we finally figure out where we are, we can go back and make sure everyone is still alive. I don't know. _Ugh_."

Shade watched her with one eyebrow raised. Obviously the boy was distracting her. "Aeri," he said, and she looked up at the noise to see his blue eyes gazing intently into hers. "Focus. You made these people a promise. You can do this. And once you've done it, we are free to go."

She must have found his rumbling soothing, because she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, letting out a groan. "I love you, Shade. I don't know what I would do without you," she mumbled into his scales, and he smiled slightly, purring to reassure her.

Aeri slept in her dragon's embrace that night, wrapped up in his wings. Her dreams were deep and indistinct, as she was comforted by the presence of her best friend, her partner for life. No matter what happened, they would always have each other.


	14. Chapter 14

**Happy New Year, my friends! **

**I'll be honest. Not a lot goes on in this chapter, which is why I posted two this time instead of one. Even so, I hope you are at least mildly entertained.**

**Cheers!**

* * *

><p>Aeri awoke in darkness, and was momentarily disoriented.<p>

"Shade?"

A deep groan reverberated around her, and she remembered where she was. Smiling, she sat up, pushing Shade's wing off her and blinking at the sudden brightness.

_Wow, they had really slept in. _It had to be at least midmorning. Looking over at her dragon's face, she saw that his eyes were tightly shut. "Come on, sleepyhead, time to get up."

He groaned again, lifting his wing until it covered his face. Aeri laughed out loud as she got to her feet, stretching, careful not to raise her right arm too high. Walking over to the pile of bags, she picked up her armor and placed it over her shoulders, quickly doing all the buckles and tightening the straps. After that, she wandered over to the small pond and looked at her reflection, noting her ridiculous bed head. _Maybe they could go hang out and swim at the beach later, or the next day. _In the mean time, she got her hands wet and smoothed down her hair, untangling the number of small braids woven through her locks.

Feeling presentable, she made her way back to Shade, who still hadn't moved. Gently she prodded at his exposed ribs with her boot. "Are you still alive?"

Another groan, and his legs shifted a bit. "Come on!" she laughed. "I need to get to the village. Maybe later or tomorrow we can go to the beach and swim and go fishing again. What do you say?"

The wing lowered just enough to reveal a wide blue eye, followed by a deep rumble from the dragon's chest.

"Yes, I promise. Now get up, so we can eat."

A while later, when the sun was almost to its apex in the sky, Aeri popped the last piece of her fruit into her mouth, licking the juice off the pad of her thumb. Shade got up and started sniffing at the bag, but Aeri pulled it closer, tying it shut. "No, we have to conserve our supplies!"

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she couldn't help but smile. "I know, I know, you can't survive off a few pieces of fruit. Like I said, we will go fishing soon. Maybe while I'm gone today you can find something more filling to eat."

Rolling his eyes, Shade wandered back to the rock wall and pile of bags, waiting for Aeri to follow and put his saddle on. Once she was up on his shoulders, helmet in place, they made their way down the mountain. When they had reached the small clearing near Haku's house, Aeri slid out of the saddle, grabbed her helmet, and leaned in to hug her dragon's neck.

"If I'm not back before sunset, come back here before night falls and I will find you."

Shade nodded. With one last pat on the side of his face, Aeri turned and trotted through the brush, quietly hopping over small obstacles, reaching the area behind Haku's house in no time. Walking up the stairs to the deck, she followed it as it wrapped around the structure to the front of the door, which, after a brief pause, she knocked on.

After a few moments, Aeri heard footsteps, before the door swung open, revealing Maara, who looked pleasantly surprised.

"Rádgatá!" the girl exclaimed.

"Hello, Maara," Aeri smiled.

"Haku isn't here, someone came and got him a while ago, but I could take you to him, if you want."

"That would be great, but what about your father?"

Maara looked slightly shocked that Aeri knew about him. "Father? Um… well, Elama is here, the other woman who cares for him when I need a break. So I can leave," she added brightly.

"Maara?" a voice called from inside, and Maara's smile dimmed.

"Yes, Elama?"

"Who's there?" A plump blonde woman appeared, stepping back at the sight of Aeri. "Oh. _Missti Einn! _What a pleasant surprise. Are you going to finish your story?"

Before Aeri could answer, Maara spoke. "I'm going to take her to find Haku."

"But what about the story? I want to hear the end!"

"I'll tell you about it later, okay?" Maara tried to convince her to stay.

"But-"

"How about this," Aeri interrupted. "I'll come back and tell you the end myself, if you really want to hear it so badly."

Both Maara and Elama looked shocked. "Really?" Haku's sister asked.

"Really."

"Well, I don't think that will be necessary, I don't want you to be stuck telling the same story twice in one day," Elama said, before turning to Maara. "You better remember every last detail, understand? I want a full recount later."

Haku's sister grinned. "You got it."

As Maara led Aeri down into the village, she kept up a steady stream of chatter. "Haku told me the first part of your story last night. That's the most amazing story I've ever heard, but I told him it was cruel of you to stop where you did, well, because it was," her grey eyes peered up through her dark eyelashes, and Aeri glanced down at her with a smile.

"How tall were you when you were sixteen?"

The question caught Aeri off guard. "Why do you ask?"

"_Well,_ Haku is very tall, but Vasara isn't, and Lyse wasn't very much taller than Vasara, but I was hoping that maybe I would grow, because I wish I was taller. I wish I was as tall as you!" Maara finally blurted, seeming a little embarrassed.

Aeri laughed, catching the attention of a few of the villagers as they passed the first few houses. "Well, by the time I was fifteen, I was taller than my mother, and when I was seventeen, I was as tall as I am now. So you have a little more time. Who knows? Maybe you _will _be as tall as me, and you're just a late bloomer? Who can say?"

Maara appeared to consider her words, biting her lower lip. "That would be pretty nice. I'm tired of being tiny!" She was pretty small, almost nine inches shorter than Aeri's six feet.

"Then we will hope for your bones to stretch! Growing pains really do suck, though. I remember them clearly," Aeri said, before she finally noticed that once again, everyone they passed was following them.

"Hi, everyone!" Maara called back cheerfully, and a few people responded, waving or smiling. "There he is!" she pointed, and Aeri followed her line of sight to see Haku conversing with a short blonde woman, who seemed to be attached to his arm.

Haku was barely listening to anything Ajaa was saying. He wasn't sure why she was holding onto his arm, or how to escape her. His mind was elsewhere, on the side of the mountain in the light of the setting sun, and he nodded absently, pretending to listen.

"Are you even hearing anything I'm saying, Haku?" Ajaa's pouty voice penetrated his musing.

"What? Of course," he evaded.

"Liar," she said, pouting but not seeming angry as she blinked her large eyes at him.

"Do you have something in your eye?" he asked her, and something akin to frustration flashed in her gaze. _What in the world- _

"There he is!" Haku looked up to see his sister down the street, followed by a growing crowd of villagers. But his gaze was fixed on the person walking next to Maara, her auburn hair shifting in the breeze. Even from this distance he swore he could see the twinkle in her eye, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Something tightened on his arm, and distracted, he looked down to see Ajaa still clinging to him, staring in the crowd's direction with an almost venomous look on her face.

"Um, Ajaa?"

The expression vanished, replaced by a bright smile. "Yes, Haku?"

_Hmm… _Haku wasn't sure what Ajaa wanted, and he wasn't sure that he cared all that much, but he couldn't just shake her off and ignore her. Rádgatá's words last night had strengthened his resolve. Maybe he wasn't a natural leader like Lyse, but he could do his best, and he would make sure that his best was enough for the people of Heimme.

"Haku!" he looked away from Ajaa to see Maara skipping towards him. "I brought _Missti Einn _with me, she came to the house. She's going to finish her story, and I convinced Elama to stay behind with Father so I could come listen!" A little ways behind his sister, still walking calmly, Rádgatá was smiling at a young boy who had come up next to her. As if sensing his gaze, she turned her head and met his eyes, still smiling. Haku's breath caught in his throat. _There was something about her… _something that made him feel immensely stupid. In a good way. Sometimes. _You're in trouble,_ a voice taunted him from the back of his mind.

Maara glanced from her brother to _Missti Einn_, noting their mutual smiles, a suspicion forming in her mind. Then she caught a glimpse of Ajaa, who did not look pleased at all. In fact, she looked downright livid. _What… Oh. _Maara figured it out in a second. Ajaa was _jealous _of _Missti Einn. As if that… woman… somehow had a chance with Haku if __R__á__dgat__á weren't around. _Maara almost snorted out loud. She had never really liked Ajaa, and now she had a real reason for it. Glancing back up at _Missti Einn_, she allowed herself a small smile. Even though she wasn't completely sure of how sane the strange woman was, she liked her, and if she made Haku happier, than Maara liked her even more. _Dragon or no dragon. _A little shiver raced down her spine at the thought of _Missti Einn's _black dragon. That was a completely different reason to be interested in Rádgatá. Maara supposed she would just have to wait and see what happened with that.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aeri caught Haku's sister eyeing her appraisingly, and looked down at the girl questioningly. Maara's small smile only grew at her notice, making Aeri more confused than she had been in a while. Shaking her head, she looked back up at Haku, who wore a strange expression on his face.

"Hello, Haku," she gave him an easy smile. Last night's events wouldn't change her promise to these people.

"Hello, Rádgatá," he replied, his odd expression fading into an answering smile, though his eyes still betrayed something… else.

"Haku, would you introduce me to this… stranger?" Somewhat surprised, Aeri followed the falsely sweet tone to the diminutive blonde woman clinging to Haku's arm. She was very pretty, with a pouty face and undeniably voluptuous figure she obviously did nothing to conceal. _Who in the world was that? _Haku hadn't mentioned having a significant other, or another sister. Aeri decided she didn't like the woman's tone, regardless of who she was, so she gave her a sweet smile and figured she'd have a little fun.

The crowd had caught up and was watching the interaction with growing interest. What Aeri and Haku did not know was that most of the village was aware of Ajaa's transparent interest in Haku. Most of them ignored her, not considering her to be worth their future Chief's time. A few supported her, others actively opposed the notion, and her numerous suitors had simply accepted the challenge and either moved on or tried harder. In any event, the arrival of _Missti Einn _posed an interesting development in their social lives, and here was the proof.

Aeri didn't break eye contact with the woman as Haku haltingly introduced them. "Ajaa, this is _Missti Einn. _Rádgatá, this is Ajaa."

Allowing her smile to widen, Aeri spoke up. "The pleasure is _entirely _mine."

It took her a second, but Aeri noted with satisfaction when the blonde's eyes narrowed. The rest of the village, overhearing her words, had to resist looking to one another. _Missti Einn _seemed to have a sense of humor. Either that or she was really quite oblivious, but they all sincerely doubted that was the case.

But Aeri wasn't finished. "You're obviously close… Haku never told me he had _another _sister." Someone snorted behind her, and Aeri had to resist the urge to laugh hysterically at the apoplectic rage building on Ajaa's face. Aeri had no clue why the blonde hated her, but she wasn't one to back down from a challenge. _Well… _upon reflection, that tendency sometimes got her in a little bit of trouble.

"Listen, you-" Ajaa hissed, but Maara interrupted her.

"So, how about the rest of that story, Rádgatá?" Aeri's smile became genuine as her gaze shifted to Haku's actual sister.

"I think that can be arranged, Maara."

Haku wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but judging from how tightly Ajaa was gripping his arm, he suspected that she did not like Rádgatá. At all. Which bothered him, maybe more than it should have.

He stepped away from Ajaa, pulling his arm away from her. She was holding on so tightly that her fingernails left light marks on his forearm, and he looked at her incredulously once he was free. "Is… everything alright, Ajaa?"

For a moment the blonde seemed speechless, then recovered herself. "Of course, Haku." She glanced dismissively at Rádgatá, which sent another wave of irritation through him. "I'll see you later," and she blinked hard a few times. _Did she still have something in her eye?_

Aeri nearly had to cover her mouth to hide her amusement at Haku's obvious confusion. Ajaa was making her intentions crystal clear, and now Aeri understood the other woman's disdain. She saw Aeri as a threat, which was laughable. She had only just arrived on the island, and she barely knew Haku. _You know him better than most, it would seem,_ the small voice in her mind pointed out, and she stopped herself from frowning as she watched Ajaa arch her back subtly, pushing out her chest and rear end. _That really is a tight dress. Haku is… quite oblivious. _What did it matter to her who Haku chose to consort with? Or, rather, who chose to consort with Haku? He belonged to them, not to her. But Haku was the closest thing Aeri had to a friend on this island, besides Vahna and perhaps Maara as well. Asti and Alkaa didn't seem to mind her, either. _Well, that's a start. _

Shaking her head, Aeri sighed, and looked up to see Haku watching her. She gave him a small smile, and put her hand on his shoulder, turning him around. "I suppose we should head to the forge now." Glancing behind her, she gave a little wave to the crowd behind her, motioning for them to follow.

They arrived at the forge, where Vasara met Aeri with a genuine smile. Greeting her, Aeri turned to look out at the village, leaning back against the counter as she had done yesterday. Some people had dragged out stools and had already set up their seats close to the front. Others seemed to have pouches of food that they were snacking from. _Was she really that entertaining? _

Smiling, Aeri held up her hands, and the conversations between villagers quieted immediately. "It's good to see you all again. Now, where was I?"


	15. Chapter 15

Shade was back where he had sat yesterday, hidden in the shadows of the undergrowth where the village met the forest. He was still irked by the fact that he couldn't see Aeri as she spoke, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. On his way over he had encountered the small group of Horrible Horrors, who weren't nearly as intimidated by him as he would have liked.

"Where are you going?" one had asked in its squeaky voice.

"I'm going to listen to my human tell a story."

"Oh, her. Well, don't let the other humans see you. They aren't too fond of dragons."

"We're trying to change that," Shade explained.

"Oh, really?" another one sounded skeptical. "Good luck with that."

"I mean it. Humans and dragons live in peace where I'm from. Wouldn't you like for the humans to stop hunting you?"

"Well, I suppose that would be nice. It was a bummer when they caught Rot in the fish basket."

"Yeah," another one chimed in. "Poor Rot. You said she's gonna tell a story. What kind of story?"

Shade realized that he wasn't feeling impatient at all dealing with the curious little dragons. He used to have no interest in conversing with the Terrors on Berk, and these Horrors seemed to be pretty much the same in nature. So what was different? Maybe he was starved for conversation, or maybe he was simply going crazy, but either way, he didn't mind explaining to them what was going on at all.

"She is telling the other humans the story of how dragons and humans achieved peace where we are from."

"And how exactly did they do that?"

Shade didn't exactly feel like telling them the whole story, so he tried to summarize it. "A human boy shot down a dragon, and instead of killing it, he befriended it. Together they saved the humans and dragons where they lived from a terrible enemy, bringing our races together."

"That sounds like it's utter Grimler crap."

"But it's true," Shade said. "I'm a direct result of that peace. Come on, she's going to finish her story. You can sit with me and listen and hear for yourselves about the enemy they defeated."

The Horrors pondered his offer before shrugging. "Got nothing better to do," one said.

"We can always fish another time," said another.

"Alright, then. Let's go." Shade continued back to his spot just in time to hear Aeri ask the humans where she had left off.

"Toothless just saved Hiccup from the dragon!" someone called out.

"His father disowned him!" another shouted.

"Stoick summoned the ships!" someone else added.

"Alright, alright," Aeri said over them. "Let's see… Hiccup listened numbly from within the dark Great Hall as his father called for the Vikings to ready their fleet. After a while, he got to his feet, and wandered out to the cliffside overlooking the docks, where the Vikings were loading their catapults onto their ships. And there- there was Toothless, completely restrained as they lifted him onto the largest ship, where Hiccup could see his father stood…"

The people of Heimme listened with bated breath, able to see in their minds' eyes the fleet of ships sailing off over the horizon. Aeri told them of Hiccup's crazy plan to free the dragons kept in the arena and fly on them to the nest, where the rest of the Vikings were running for their lives from the enraged Queen. How Stoick had helped Hiccup free Toothless, so that the boy and his dragon could fly to fight the monstrous Red Death, as it came to be called.

She told them of how Hiccup and Toothless drew the Queen to the sky, allowing her to chase them up into the thunderclouds overhead. How Toothless fired, again and again at her wings, until finally her fire caught up to them and lit the dragon's prosthetic tail on fire, forcing them to see if their plan would work after all.

"They flew down, taunting the furious Queen, who dove after them, jaws snapping." She told them of how when she breathed in, preparing to blast them with her fire, Toothless spun, firing once into her gaping maw, lighting the gas in her throat. "Suddenly they cleared the clouds and the rapidly approaching ground became visible, causing the massive Queen to panic. Desperately she spread her wings, but Toothless's blasts had made holes in the membranes, which tore wider as she opened them. With nothing stopping her, she crashed into the ground head-first, creating a massive explosion. Hiccup and Toothless flew up, up, trying to escape the fireball, but Toothless's tailfin finally burned off, and they were unable to avoid being struck by the Queen's club-like tail, knocking Hiccup unconscious and out of the saddle. Furiously, Toothless beat his wings diving down after his human into the inferno."

The villagers couldn't even breathe, so tense was the moment.

"Stoick ran through the smoky remains of the Queen, desperately searching for some sign of his son. Instead, he caught sight of Toothless, who lay unconscious on the ground, his prosthetic tailfin and saddle completely destroyed. The great Chief fell to his knees before the dragon, tears coming to his eyes. His son was gone, and it was all his fault. His foolish pride, his ignorance… his son had sacrificed himself to save the very people who had rejected him.

"Toothless opened his eyes to see Stoick before him, agonized with grief. "I'm so sorry," the huge man whispered. Seeming appeased, the dragon slowly spread his wings, revealing Hiccup, wrapped in his embrace. He was alive, but there was still a price."

The villagers looked genuinely sad as Aeri described Hiccup waking up, only to find that he had lost part of his leg. But everyone seemed to cheer up upon hearing of the incredible sight of countless dragons roaming the village, and the response from the Vikings when they saw him, how they had all come running with excitement. Of course, there were some "aw"s when Astrid kissed Hiccup, and when Aeri concluded with his first flight with his own prosthetic, everyone had a smile on their face.

"And that is the story of my people. The story of a boy and his dragon, who defied tradition, expectations, and perhaps even nature to form a bond stronger than any other, not just between themselves but between two races, humans and dragons.

"Now, the sun is setting, so I will let you return to your lives. Perhaps, though, you might be more understanding of where I am coming from, and why I have chosen to stay here, on Heimme, to help you end the war you face."

No one spoke, but Aeri refused to look away from their gazes. Then a woman stood, in the back.

It was Vahna, and Asti and Alkaa quickly joined her on her feet. "Thank you, Rádgatá. Perhaps we have learned as much as your people have, just by your words alone. I think it will be good for us all to reflect and reevaluate where we stand on _Missti Einn_'s presence here," she directed the last part to everyone gathered. With that, the old woman turned and walked away.

Haku watched the mild surprise fade from Rádgatá's face to be replaced by a smile. With that change, many people stood and, looking thoughtful, returned to their daily routines, but a number of villagers got to their feet and approached the stall. Once closer, they began asking questions, seemingly insatiable in their want for what could be the truth about their war with the dragons. Some asked about the Queen, others about what happened to Hiccup.

"It is quite possible that there is a Queen nearby. The time will come soon enough for me to go out and find her, and then I will think of a plan to remove her from the equation. As for Hiccup, he went on to become as great a Chief as his father, perhaps even greater, for the defeat of the Queen was only one of his many accomplishments." For the first time, Haku vaguely wondered how she knew the story in such great detail.

After the rest of the villagers left the stall, he got his chance to ask. "Rádgatá, how do you know this story so well?"

"I was raised hearing it, from my mother, sometimes my father, and from the other Vikings. Everyone loves to tell the tale of the Dragon Chief."

_The Dragon Chief. _What a great title for someone supposedly so small.

He was about to ask what she was going to do next when shouting broke out a block down, and though they could not see it, they heard the disturbance clearly.

Rádgatá's smile faded and she darted from the stall, her long legs carrying her quickly to the edge of the village, where two men were standing, shaking and babbling, surrounded by a cluster of concerned people. Haku ran after her, barely able to catch up as she slowed.

"What is it?" she called, and startled, the group of people turned to look at the approaching stranger. Some of them murmured "_Missti Einn_" or "Rádgatá".

One of the shaking men spoke up, much to the surprise of the others. He lifted a hand to point into the bushes that grew as high as the bottom branches of the trees. "There were… _eyes."_

"What color eyes?"

"Blue. The brightest blue we have ever seen."

Rádgatá laughed, causing the people to look at each other uncomfortably. "You think this is _funny_?" The man said, clearly affronted.

"No, not funny. Just a relief."

"A relief?!"

"You did see eyes. Real eyes, belonging to a real creature."

The villagers' eyes widened as they realized the implications of what she had just said.

"You want to meet him?" Shock became unease, but no one spoke up against her.

She put her hand to her mouth, making the strange whistling sound like she had the other night. Everyone was frozen, anxious about what was coming. Well, everyone but her. She had a delighted smile on her face. Haku had to suppress his own smile, knowing that Dreki was completely harmless, but also knowing that no one was aware of how well he already knew the dragon.

He spoke up, feeling obligated to try and ease the tension. "All right, everyone, don't panic, just-" A deep rumbling sound resonated from within the brush, and a few people gasped. Then, two enormous blue eyes appeared in the shadows, causing people to reach out and grab hold of their neighbors for fear of falling over. Quickly, the villagers backed away from the sight, the only thing keeping them from running being the fear that it might chase them down and eat them.

Slowly, the black dragon emerged from the bushes, scattering leaves as he shook his wings, Finally, he stood in the sunlight, looking just as fearsome as he did in the darkness as he looked around at the villagers coldly. Moments passed, and no one died, but that didn't serve to ease the tension.

Rádgatá stepped forward, taking off her gloves, and placed her hands on either side of the creature's face, and it lowered its head as she murmured something in its ear. Abruptly it sat down, pupils wide, ears forward, watching the humans with as much curiosity as they did to him. Haku found this change as immensely entertaining as he had the day before.

"Rádgatá," he said, trying to sound sincere as he broke the silence, and she turned, a slight smile on her face. "What's his name?"

Playing along, she answered, "You can call him…" she appeared to think about it. "You can call him Dreki."

"Dreki. Okay, Dreki, can I come closer?"

The dragon looked at him with mild surprise before nodding, causing some people to gasp. Slowly, Haku came forward, passing by a few of the villagers. He acted as though this was the first time he had seen the dragon since the flight the other night. The dragon seemed to sense this, and a slight smirk crossed his features. _This dragon was just full of personality._

"Rádgatá, can I… can I touch him?" he tried not to grin.

Also trying not to laugh, she nodded. "Yes." She reached out and placed her hand on his arm, slender fingers unable to wrap fully around his muscular forearm. The moment her skin touched his, something like electricity raced through him again, and he looked up at her face, surprised. But she showed no signs that she had experienced the same thing, so he quickly looked away, back to the dragon, who was watching him with one eyebrow raised. _Very perceptive._

She guided his hand towards Dreki, who leaned down to sniff it, before leaning even closer to smell the rest of him. Even though he had _ridden _this dragon, Haku couldn't help but be excited by how close he was to the creature now. Finally, Dreki finished his examination of him and leaned back, apparently satisfied. Rádgatá let go of his arm, and said, "Go ahead."

Haku reached out and held his hand barely an inch away from Dreki's forehead. After a beat of stillness, the dragon closed the gap and bumped his head against Haku's palm. A rumbling sound began emanating from the creature's chest, and people gasped as they realized the dragon was _purring._

Haku laughed, delighted, and Rádgatá turned and gave him a broad smile. "He likes you."

Behind them, the villagers were slowly unfreezing, awed. Along the street, people had gathered to watch their future Chief interact with a _dragon _of all things.

Dreki bumped his large head against Haku's chest, and without thinking he raised his other arm and began rubbing the side of the dragon's neck with both hands, causing the purring to intensify.

Rádgatá turned to face all of the people up the street. "Hello again. This is my dragon. You may call him Dreki. If you wish to approach him, do so with his permission. He will not harm you. As you can see-" she gestured behind her to where Haku was energetically scratching the back of her dragon's neck, "- he's actually quite a softy. In all honesty, he's far gentler than I am, and kinder, too. So, do not be afraid. He enjoys meeting new people, so long as they aren't pointing weapons at him or me. Remember my story. Where we come from, humans and dragons co-exist peacefully, so while you may be shocked to see him, he is in no way alarmed by you."

Everyone was openly gaping, but a few people seemed to be slowly overcoming their fear. Haku turned from Dreki's pleased rumbling to watch his people, curious as to what they would do next. The dragon next to him straightened up just in time to see a young girl barreling towards him, her mother chasing her with a look of pure terror on her face.

"Luvia! Get back here!" But the girl had a determined expression on her face, and she skidded to a stop right in front of Dreki. Haku waited to see what he would do, and her mother finally reached her, but was too frightened of the dragon to step any closer.

"Please, Luvia," she whispered. "Please get away from… from…"

Without speaking, Luvia lifted one hand and reached for Dreki's face, which peered down at her from his considerable height. Her mother gasped, tears of fright coming to her eyes. Haku put a hand out in front of her, trying to get her to relax. Rádgatá was watching carefully, but smiling, so he knew that the little girl was in no danger.

Slowly, the dragon lowered his head until the tip of his nose was inches away from the top of the little girl's head. He sniffed her, causing her hair to shift, and Luvia laughed delightedly, before reaching up and placing both hands on Dreki's cheeks. The dragon's mouth began to open, and Luvia's mother let out an audible sob, clearly expecting him to devour her baby.

Instead, Dreki's mouth stretched into a wide grin. But… where were his teeth?! All they could see was a gummy pink smile, which made the dragon look comical, and infinitely more approachable. Little Luvia giggled, patting her hands on the dragon's cheeks. Haku looked at the girl's mother, to see her face slack with shock. "Come on," he urged her, and numbly she stepped forward, eyes wide.

Crouching down, Haku called out softly, "Luvia." The little girl turned, one hand still on Dreki's face. "I think your mama wants to see you now."

"Mama!" she cried out happily. "Come see the dragon!"

The woman actually whimpered. Haku swallowed his laugh, and placed a reassuring hand around her shoulders. "Do you see that she is in no danger, Ima?" he addressed her by her first name, and she looked up at him, eyes wide.

"I just… I just don't know."

"Do not be afraid," Rádgatá said gently. "You don't have to love us. We don't expect _any _of you to just accept us. All I ask is that you respect my dragon, not because he is fearsome, but because he is an intelligent creature of depth and compassion, who protects me with his life regularly, and who also has offered his protection to you all with his presence."

Without another word she crouched, holding out her arms, and Luvia cheerfully raised her hands in the air to be picked up. Rádgatá, holding the girl as though she interacted with small children on a regular basis, carried her back to Ima, who wordlessly extended her arms to take her daughter, who seemed put out that she didn't get to keep petting the dragon.

"Do you not recall how Rádgatá and Dreki intervened during the last raid?" Haku directed his question not just at Ima but at all of the villagers. "Did you not hear Rádgatá's words, the story of her people? They were just like us, perhaps even more deeply entrenched in their war than we are in ours. But one person, and one dragon, changed life there as all humans and dragons knew it, and I believe that one person and her dragon can do the same for us here."

_There. _Haku had officially cast his vote. He glanced over at Rádgatá, who was smiling her gratitude at him, something unreadable in her eyes. But before she could speak, another person spoke up.

"I agree with Haku."

It was Maara, and she strode out from the crowd, her face a mask of determination. She came face to face with Dreki, and fearlessly she extended her hand. "He-hello," she stuttered a bit, her voice betraying her nervousness. Everyone held their breath, watching their Chief's normally quiet and shy daughter come out of her shell. Dreki sniffed her hand, and a wide, toothless smile spread on his face.

Maara made a sound of glee as the dragon pressed his nose into her palm. "Oh, he's wonderful!" she announced, and slowly lifted her other hand to rub Dreki's cheek, gazing into his incredible blue eyes. "Rádgatá, I… I think Vahna and Haku are right to trust you, and to trust your dragon. I _know _now in my heart that you can and will help us. Are you people blind?" she shouted at the crowd, taking everyone by surprise. "Can you not see that I am not being eaten?" she demanded, her gaze meeting their eyes as she scanned their faces.

"Rádgatá," Maara turned back to the tall woman, who couldn't disguise her smile. "Could I- that is, could you, um…"

"Yes?" Rádgatá tilted her head, and Haku wondered what in the world his sister was about to ask.

"Can I fly with you?"

Rádgatá looked shocked, and half the villagers gasped. Haku's own jaw dropped. Closing his mouth, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. After all, she _was _his sister, and had he not willingly jumped onto a dragon's back at the first invitation?

"We would be honored to take you flying," Rádgatá said, her smile returning.

"Could we go right now?" Once again taken aback, Rádgatá looked at her dragon, who nodded, still smiling slightly.

"I think that can be arranged."

* * *

><p><strong>Hey! I just posted the first part of a new short story that takes place between OtN and CCF. It's called Nightmare, check it out and let me know what you think!<strong>


	16. Chapter 16

"Does anyone know where my helmet is?" Rádgatá addressed the whole crowd.

"I have it here, Rádgatá." The voice belonged to Vasara, who came forward out of the crowd, looking just as determined as Maara had. She handed the helmet to the taller woman before looking Dreki in the eyes, as if searching for something. The dragon didn't move, returning the inspection, and finally Vasara nodded, extending her hand, which Dreki sniffed before pushing his nose into her palm, causing her impenetrable facade to break into a wide smile. "Maybe… maybe I'll take you up on that offer, after all. Once Maara has had her fun, of course."

Haku was now completely blown away by the boldness of his sisters, remembering Rádgatá's offer for Vasara to join them for a flight yesterday. _Was it only yesterday? It seemed like so long ago… _He knew they were strong and independent, but he never would have guessed at their willingness to accept change. Maybe it was faith in him, maybe it was that they were level-headed and saw things as they were, not as prejudice would have them be.

The villagers were all murmuring to one another, clearly torn between old fears and what they were seeing before them. Rádgatá grinned at Haku's sisters, pleased. "We'd be happy to have you fly with us, Vasara. Like you said, after Maara gets her turn." Turning towards Maara, Rádgatá handed the girl her helmet. "Put this on. It gets pretty windy up there."

Eyes wide, Maara gave Haku one last glance before squaring her shoulders and lowering the helmet over her head. Rádgatá hopped up onto her dragon's shoulders, holding out a hand, which Maara took. Once the girl was firmly in the saddle, Dreki began to spread his wings, and Haku and Vasara stepped back, unable to contain their smiles.

"We'll be back soon," Rádgatá called out to the villagers, some of whom were actually murmuring excitedly.

Maara wrapped her arms around Rádgatá's waist, peering out through the slits in the front of the helmet. Looking out at the sea of familiar faces, she suddenly felt like a stranger in her own skin, hidden behind a mask. She had decided, and now it was time to put her resolve to the test.

"Ready?" Rádgatá was asking her quietly, and Maara could only nod. Her last thought was of how proud Haku looked, right before the dragon leapt from the earth, beating his powerful wings over and over to gain altitude. Maara clung to Rádgatá, unable to close her eyes at the sight of the world she knew disappearing from view.

_Don't scream don't scream don't scream don't scream… _

"Maara. Maara!" Rádgatá was calling her name, and it took her a few tries to find her voice.

"Y-yes?"

"It's okay. Look forward, not down."

So she did. Instead of staring at the dragon's black scales, she peered over Rádgatá's shoulder, and what she saw took her breath away.

The afternoon sun was making its way towards the horizon, promising a few more hours of warmth and light as it reflected off the vast blue ocean. They were level now, soaring between enormous white clouds, and pulling away from the woman in front of her, Maara glanced down again, not at the dragon, but to the island far below.

"Heimme looks so small from up here!" her voice sounded muffled to her inside the helmet. "And the ocean is so… enormous. Is it always like this?"

"Not when it's pouring rain. But day or night, that feeling you're having never goes away. It's magic, every time you leave the world below. Time means nothing up here. As my grandmother and father always say, when you're up here, you don't even feel the cold. You just feel-"

"Free." Maara finished, and an incredible, inexplicable joy surged through her. _Free. _From her father, from her life. _This _was what she wanted, this was who she wanted to be. Not stuck on Heimme, caring for her father's body until some man decided he wanted to marry her and have her care for him instead.

"Rádgatá… I want this. I want what you have with Dreki. I want to learn to fly and fight and be free, too. Can you teach me?"

Rádgatá seemed to hesitate, but her voice was firm as she responded. "I cannot promise you freedom, Maara. That is not for me to give. But I _can _train you to ride a dragon, and I can show you how to use a weapon as well as your brother and sister."

Maara couldn't speak. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Rádgatá again and hugged her tight, thanking her without words.

They flew in silence for another few minutes, Dreki circling lazily around clouds, descending in easy dives before riding the air currents back up. "Are you ready to go back down?"

_Never,_ Maara wanted to say, her hands resting on Rádgatá's shoulders. The other woman seemed to understand, and looked back with a wide grin.

"Want to have a little fun?"

* * *

><p>From the ground, Haku and the others watched in silence as Rádgatá and Maara flew through the clouds, which Haku knew from experience were somehow made of water. Several minutes passed, and he was about to wonder aloud when they were going to return when Dreki disappeared behind a cloud, then suddenly shot straight up, climbing higher until he was a small speck in the sky.<p>

Nervous murmurs rippled through the crowd, and Haku swallowed his unease. _Everything was fine, __R__á__dgat__á knew what she was doing… _Then, the dragon seemed to stop. _What… _with horror Haku realized what Rádgatá and Dreki were doing, and he had to stop himself from shouting "NO!"

The dragon and his two passengers were falling from the sky. Picking up speed, they became increasingly visible as they approached land, when without warning the dragon's wings unfurled and caught the wind, sending the trio into a wild, tumbling free fall, spinning uncontrollably. The crowd gasped, many people shouting with terror that the dragon was going to crash, all of them fearing for Maara's life.

Haku, having experienced Rádgatá and her dragon's mischief, quickly became angry. _What was she doing? This was Maara's first flight! How dare she put his sister in danger, or make her fear for her life?_

Suddenly, the dragon leveled out, hurtling directly towards the ground. People screamed, seeing the black creature flying directly towards them, and began to back away, some even turning and running for shelter. Haku held his ground, angrily staring up at the fast approaching object. He knew they were all perfectly safe, he just couldn't believe that Rádgatá would be so inconsiderate as to put his sister through it.

Just in time, Dreki spread his wings, and with an audible _whoosh _he swooped over the rooftops, arcing back up into the sky. Haku could hear audible yells from the dragon's back and his anger deepened.

Finally, the dragon gently spiraled back down, coming to land exactly in the spot he had taken off from. The crowd was returning, mostly in disbelief, but some with Haku's anger, wondering just what _Missti Einn _was about, here.

Maara quickly jumped down from behind Rádgatá and ran to Haku, wrapping her arms around him and shaking amidst concerned shouts from the other villagers.

"What were you _thinking?_" he hissed at the woman sliding off the dragon, holding his sister tightly, and Dreki shot him a warning look. "How could you-"

Maara pushed away from him and pulled off her helmet, but instead of tears, her expression was one of complete joy. She was _laughing_, and all of Haku's outrage evaporated.

"Oh, Haku! It was _amazing_, I can't even… I can't even believe it! I could _live _up there!" Maara was practically raving as she ran back over to Rádgatá, hugging the smiling woman tightly before turning to fully wrap her arms around Dreki's neck, still laughing with joy.

Haku's jaw had dropped, along with practically every other jaw in the village.

"I bet you thought I was being irresponsible. Didn't you?" He numbly turned to look at Rádgatá, who had come up beside him and was watching Maara talk to the equally animated dragon, her high-pitched shouts of excitement mixing with his deep warbles.

"I was _so_ close to killing you and your dragon," he said after a moment, but Rádgatá only laughed, holding her stomach.

"I'm not quite as evil as some of you want me to be," she replied, her green eyes twinkling.

"That's the last thing I want," Haku said softly, and her smile faded as she seemed to see something change in his eyes. Quickly he looked away and walked up to where Maara and the dragon appeared to be conversing, his sister rubbing the dragon's neck, who groaned with delight.

"You had me worried," he started firmly, causing her to look up at his serious face. But she laughed at him too, and so did the dragon, exposing his toothless gums.

"Oh, Haku," she sighed, one hand still on Dreki as she gestured to Rádgatá, who was now surrounded by curious villagers. "I so envy her."

Haku realized that his sister felt exactly how he had, and for the first time wondered if she wasn't as happy as she always seemed. Then, a few children ran up, shyly asking if they could touch the dragon, and they were both distracted, making introductions between Dreki and the more daring villagers.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Haku awoke to the sound of knocking. Blearily he got out of bed, reaching for a tunic and some pants, when he heard the door open and the sound of female voices reached him. <em>Maybe it was <em>_R__á__dgat__á. _Suddenly energized, he threw on some boots and strode out into the hallway, stopping at the top of the stairs.

It _was _her, and she sat casually in a chair at the end of the table, apparently waiting for something. She wasn't in her usual armor, though. Instead, she wore a sleeveless tunic, belted at the waist, and tight leggings.

"Rádgatá," he called out softly, not wanting to wake Vasara, and the woman looked up at him with a smile.

"Hello, Haku," and warmth filled him at the sound of his name on her lips.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked, making his way down the stairs.

"Actually, she's here for me." At his sister's voice, Haku turned and blinked in surprise.

It was Maara, but rather than her usual dress, she was clad in a long-sleeved tunic, pants, and boots. Currently, she was hastily tying a wide belt around her hips to keep the tunic in place, walking towards them.

"For you?" Haku couldn't keep the slight skepticism out of his voice, and behind him, Rádgatá laughed.

"Yes, for her. We are going to do some training today," she said rather mysteriously.

"Training? What kind of training? Are you going flying again?" Haku realized he sounded jealous, and barely stopped himself from asking, _"What about me?"_

"We'll probably fly later," Rádgatá said, not answering his first questions as she walked out the door, trailed by Maara, who gave Haku a cheerful wave before closing the door behind her.

* * *

><p>"Okay, now you come at me," Aeri said encouragingly, as Maara lifted her wooden sword with both hands and swung at her. Easily blocking it, Aeri spun around and knocked the 'blade' completely out of the younger girl's hands.<p>

They had only been in the clearing for half an hour, but Maara was already panting from the exertion of lifting the heavy piece of wood and trying to fight with it. When she had commented on its heaviness, Rádgatá had responded simply with, "Just wait until you get a real sword."

Maara wanted to simultaneously complain, cry, and fall on the ground, but she gritted her teeth. She was determined to learn how to fight. She just couldn't believe how effortlessly Rádgatá moved, lifting and slashing her heavy wooden sword with one arm, because of the stitches on her other bicep. Maara suspected that even if her other arm were completely healed, Rádgatá would probably just carry another sword and dual-wield like a deadly hurricane.

Once again, Rádgatá twirled about and sent Maara's blade skittering away, and the younger girl couldn't help her scowl.

Aeri jogged over to where the sword had stopped, making eye contact with Shade, before turning back to where Maara had dropped to the ground. The girl had never lifted a weapon in her life, but Aeri knew that Haku's sister had the persistence to learn.

"I'm hopeless," Maara moaned, but Rádgatá only smiled at her.

"How about this? We can go flying for a while, then we can go over to the forge and look at all the different weapons Vasara has, and you can tell me if you still want to use swords."

"That… sounds okay."

"Don't worry, you're not hopeless. This is only your first day! Your muscles will become accustomed to the weight of your weapon in no time. Remember, I've been training since I was a small child. That's not saying you're learning too late, it just means that I've had a lot more practice than you have. So don't give up! I believe in you."

Maara lifted her head, determined once again. She wouldn't let Rádgatá down. "Thank you."


	17. Chapter 17

**Thank you all of you who read, and special thanks to those of you who review. I posted this two days early because I've decided to do give you all another challenge of sorts. I'm thinking… 50th reviewer and 100th follower (both of those will take a while) get a sneak peak. There's something big coming up in about 5 chapters, but I bet you don't want to wait 5 weeks for it. So… get to it! :)**

* * *

><p>Aeri speared another fish, drawing it out of the water and tossing it into the basket with the others. Shade lounged nearby, already having eaten his fill.<p>

"You could help, you know," she called over to him, but he just yawned and put his head down on his paws, feigning sleep. A week had passed since Aeri had begun training Maara, and they were taking a day off. His rider was a patient and knowledgeable teacher, and Shade was quietly impressed with her ability to motivate Haku's sister.

Aeri had taken Maara to the forge, where Vasara eagerly assisted her in helping her sister decide which weapon would suit her best. The younger girl had immediately turned down hammers and maces, showing interest in Aeri's spear but deciding that she wasn't quite tall enough for such a weapon. She passed over axes and bows too, until finally deciding that she wanted to stick with swords. But if she was ever going to train with a real weapon, she'd need some real armor, so she and Aeri had asked Vasara if she could come up with something.

"I want armor like _Missti Einn's_," Maara had said, to which Vasara shook her head.

"In all honesty, I'm not skilled enough. You could ask her to make it for you. She can have full access to the forge and all of my materials, too," she had trailed off, looking expectantly at Aeri, who pondered this for a moment.

"I'd be more than happy to make something for you, Maara, but, I could also teach you, Vasara, how to craft lightweight armor like mine, that is, if you want me to," she had finished hastily.

Vasara had looked like she couldn't believe it. "Would you really?"

"Of course."

"Then I accept. When can we begin?" And just like that, Aeri was training both of Haku's sisters, one with a blade, and one with a hammer. Now, she crouched on the rocks, holding her spear above her head as she waited for a fish to swim within range.

Shade lazily opened one eye and watched her as she bit her lip in anticipation, affection for his rider warming his chest. Suddenly a distant roar caught his attention, and his head shot up, ears perked.

"What is it, bud?"

But he was already on his feet, running towards the sound. _That roar was far too loud, deep, and frustrated to be a Horrible Horror. _Crashing through the undergrowth, he finally ended up in a seemingly empty meadow.

Shade sniffed around the clearing. He knew he had heard something, and he also knew with certainty that there was another dragon nearby. The grass was trampled, and he could see the remains of an old kill near the edge of the forest. _It had to be at least two weeks old. _Looking up, he could see that the tops of some of the trees had been broken off, as though something large had crashed through them.

A twig snapped and he whipped around just in time to see a red blur barreling towards him, smashing into him. They tumbled end over end, clawing at each other, before Shade finally managed to pin the other dragon down and got a good look at it. It seemed like a small version of a Monstrous Nightmare, not quite his size, but before he could ask it anything it burst into flames, writhing uncontrollably. Refusing to let it go despite the uncomfortable heat, Shade pressed his claws against its throat.

"Stop, or I will kill you."

The dragon froze, seeming to consider his words. Finally it extinguished itself. "Let me go," it snarled.

"Hmm…" Shade pretended to consider, before raising an eyebrow. "I don't think so. Why did you attack me?"

"You're a strange dragon sniffing around my home. You _radiate _danger. My options were to run, or to strike first."

"I _radiate _danger. What does that even mean?"

"I don't know! If you're not going to kill me, can you just leave? This is _my _home, I was here first."

"Do you promise you won't try to attack me again? I'll just pin you again, but next time, I don't think I'll be as nice about it."

"Ugh. Whatever."

Shade stepped off of the other dragon and it immediately rolled to its feet, one paw rubbing its neck where his claws had been pressing. "You're not from around here, are you?" it asked, and Shade's eyebrow lifted again.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, for starters, I've never seen you before."

"Well, I've never seen _you _before," he countered. "What's your name?"

"I don't have one," the dragon ground out. "I suppose you do?"

"Yes. I'm Shade. Nice to meet you," he said, a little sarcastically, looking over the other dragon. "What kind of dragon are you?"

It lifted itself up. "I'm a _Grimler_," it said proudly.

"I thought Grimlers were supposed to be bigger."

It looked offended. "Well, _someday _I'll be bigger! Stop giving me a hard time!"

_What? _"You're a kid!"

"You don't have to act all smug about it."

"I'm not-" Shade shook his head, then started sniffing at the other dragon. "_And _you're a girl. The most fun combination of all."

"And _you're _rude. A bully _and_ a jerk, looks like. Which is the worse combination, again?"

Shade couldn't help but laugh. "You remind me of my sister." The words slipped out before he could stop them, but the other dragon didn't seem to notice his discomfort.

"There are _more _of you?" she asked. "Great. What kind of dragon are you, anyways?"

"I'm a Night Fury."

"Never heard of you."

"I'm not offended."

"Darn. I'll have to try harder."

He laughed again. "Look, _you _attacked _me. _You said this is your home. Why here? On the humans' island? Don't you all have an island somewhere nearby?"

"Well, "we all" live back at the nest, but I can't go back."

"Why not?" Shade was curious.

She lifted up her left wing and he saw that the membrane was badly torn in several places. He couldn't help but wince.

"Last raid, something attacked us. I think it was another dragon, but I've never heard of a dragon that shoots explosions like that. Anyways, we got out of there as fast as we could, but some Flashfang accidentally shot off a bunch of spikes, shredding up my wing. I crashed over here, and I've been stuck ever since."

"That's terrible!"

"I know. Say, how did _you _end up here? I've never seen you around the nest… or anywhere. You say you have family, but I don't know of any _Night Furies _flying around these islands." She looked suspicious, and Shade wasn't sure of how much to tell her.

"Well, you see-"

"And what's that on your back?"

"Um…"

"Shade?"

_Uh oh. _The Grimler's pupils turned to slits at the sound of Aeri's voice and she lowered into a defensive crouch, growling. Shade heard Aeri's footsteps nearby, and just as his rider stepped into the clearing, spear in hand, he leapt at the Grimler, knocking her over.

"Aeri! Get out of here!"

Aeri looked shocked to see him wrestling with a wild dragon, but instead of running away, she yelled at him.

"Shade! It's injured!"

Shade currently had the Grimler pinned again, but she was struggling even harder than she had before. "Why is it talking to you?" she hissed.

"_It _is my human," he grunted as she kicked him in the stomach.

"You have a _human?_" she seemed startled, and momentarily stopped struggling.

"Yes. Are you going to quit fighting? She won't hurt you. She might even be able to help you with your wing," he said trying to persuade her. Aeri had dropped her spear and was slowly approaching, so he growled at her, trying to make her wait. Frowning, she stopped, watching as the two dragons communicated.

"Why should I believe you? You're nothing more than a _pet_ to those savage creatures," the Grimler snarled.

"If I were feeling less patient I would kill you for suggesting such a thing. Do I look like I'm _anybody's _pet?"

She appeared to consider his words. "Not really. I guess. I don't know. What I _do _know is that you're a jerk and you and your human should leave me alone."

Shade heard the defeat in her words and immediately released her, stepping off of her and placing himself between her and Aeri. Slowly she rolled to her feet, shaking her head, and Shade was stricken by the realization that he had been fighting a _kid. _She wasn't much of a challenge, but he felt bad that he'd had to use force on her at all.

"I'm sorry," he started, but she growled.

"Just leave me alone," she snapped, turning her back and limping away.

"Hey, bud, what's going on?" Aeri had appeared at his side, but he was still frowning at the Grimler's back, taking in her shredded wing.

"I said leave!" the Grimler shouted, back still turned as she curled up in the grass. "Before I change my mind and eat you both."

Shade saw right through her bravado. She knew she couldn't hope to take him in a fight, and, from the sound of it, she was hungry. He still felt bad. After all, it was sort of his fault that she was in this position in the first place. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. He crouched, gesturing to Aeri that she should get on his shoulders.

"Are we just going to leave it here?" his rider whispered to him as she leapt up to the saddle, snatching her spear out of the grass.

"I can hear her!" the Grimler called. "And yes, you are. Good-bye."

Turning, Shade darted from the clearing, narrowly avoiding trees as he sprinted back to where they had been fishing earlier. Aeri's basket was still there, full of fish. He rumbled at his rider, motioning at the basket with his head. It took her a moment before she realized what he wanted, and a smile spread on her face. "I gotcha."

A few minutes later they were back in the clearing. The Grimler hadn't moved, but turned her head and hissed. "What don't you understand about-" she trailed off as the smell of fish wafted towards her.

Aeri hopped off of Shade's back, the large basket on her back. "Hey," she said quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you. We brought you some food," she gestured back to the basket, dropping her spear into the grass.

The Grimler scowled, but didn't move. Shade stayed a few steps behind his rider as she walked slowly towards the injured dragon, who looked suspiciously between the two of them.

When she was a few yards away, Aeri dropped the basket and pushed it over, sending a pile of fish sliding out. "Hey… girl," she ascertained quickly. "Come on, it's all good. No eels, I promise."

"No eels?" The Grimler looked surprised.

"She knows all about dragons. Not just because of me. Where we come from, dragons and humans live in peace."

The other dragon scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

"But it's true," Shade persisted. "You can trust us. I'm sorry I tackled you earlier, and all that. We won't hurt you any more. Like I said, she might even be able to help your wing."

The Grimler looked sad. "I don't think so. It's broken pretty bad, and all shredded up, and the poison from the spikes spread through the membrane pretty fast. It hurts."

"Well, at least let her look at it. She can help with the pain, I know that."

She pondered this, and Shade and Aeri waited patiently. Finally she got to her feet, sending them both a warning glance, before slowly coming forward. Keeping her eyes on them, she hesitantly grabbed the fish closest to her and ate it.

"I promise we didn't poison them. Go on, eat."

Finally, she nodded, and quickly began devouring the rest, her hunger betraying her. When she finished, her pupils were wide, and she looked curious. Slowly, Aeri held up her hand and walked forward, Shade looking on vigilantly.

"What is she doing?"

"Well, she fed you, and she's going to help with your wing, so just let her bond with you."

"_Bond with me?!_" she hissed, and Aeri paused, not lowering her arm.

"Yes," Shade said patiently. "Just trust us. Humans aren't actually so bad, once you get past the rock-throwers." _Well, most humans, _he thought, thinking of the pirates that had attacked him and Aeri.

Shade was pleasantly surprised that the Grimler sat completely still as Aeri approached her. She didn't even growl as Aeri's hand hovered inches away from her face.

"Well?" she muttered. "Is she gonna touch me or what?"

"Put your nose in her palm."

"Why?"

"She trusts you not to eat her hand or light yourself on fire, so show her that you trust she won't attack you."

"Fine."

The Grimler pressed her nose into Aeri's hand, and once again looked surprised as Aeri gave her a wide smile.

"Why is she smiling?"

"She's pleased to meet you."

"Oh. Uh, nice to meet you too?" Aeri seemed to understand, as usual, and laughed.

"I'm Aeri," she introduced herself. "Bud, does she have a name?" she asked, looking back at Shade, who shook his head.

"Hmm. Do you mind if I give you a name? Humans are funny that way," Aeri laughed at the dragon's bewildered expression. "We always have to name things."

The Grimler seemed to think about it, before nodding. "I guess I need a name if I'm going to be a pet."

Shade would have been irritated if she hadn't been smiling slightly when she said it.

"Hmm…" Aeri was thinking, slowly sliding her hand around the Grimler's face to rub her neck. Pleasantly surprised, the dragon purred, and Shade's rider laughed, scratching the suddenly docile dragon under her chin.

"I think I'm starting to like your human," she hummed at Shade, who gave her a toothless smile in return.

"Where are your teeth?!" she asked, shocked, and his smile turned toothy once again.

Opening his mouth, he retracted his teeth, and the Grimler looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head.

"How about… Mika?" Aeri interrupted their exchange, and the Grimler looked back and forth between Shade and his human.

"I guess that works," she said slowly. "Mika. _Meeeeekaaaaa_." She nodded at Aeri. "It'll do."

"I'm quite pleased to make your acquaintance, Mika," Aeri announced, scratching behind the Grimler's horns. Mika groaned, rolling over onto her back so that Aeri could scratch her sides.

"I could get used to this," she sighed.

"How old are you?" Shade finally asked, and she tilted her head to the side.

"Thirteen." _So young. _Aeri gave Mika a pat on her side and turned back to pick up the basket.

"Do you have siblings?"

"I had a brother and a sister," she said sadly, rolling back over to get to her feet.

"What happened to them?"

"Well, my brother was shot down in a raid, and my sister was… she was eaten."

_Oh, no. That meant… _"By who?" Shade forced himself to ask, dreading the answer.

"By the Queen."

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><p><em><strong>GASP! <strong>_**Review! (And follow!)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Happy Friday, friends! **

**Vvarden: It won at the Golden Globes, so let's hope for another! As far as Shade goes, it would appear that leadership comes naturally to him, as well as Aeri. They might run from it, but they can't deny who they are, at least, not forever.**

**Harkonnen28: I read your review while I was at the grocery store last night and it made my day. As you pointed out, many more people read than review, which may or may not be a good thing. (I don't know what I would do with thousands of reviews haha.) But I appreciate you taking the time to comment thoughtfully, it's always a pleasure to read what you excellent people have to say, and I hope that I can continue to provide at least some entertainment for you in the future. :)**

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><p>"Are you ready?"<p>

Vasara wiped her brow with the back of her hand. She had been in the forge since early that morning, working hard on a chest plate for one of the village men.

"Ready?"

"For our flight?" _Oh. _Turning, the smith saw Rádgatá leaning against the counter, arms loosely crossed. Vasara found that she wasn't feeling so bold as she had when she'd announced in front of the entire village that she'd like to fly on the dragon as well as Maara.

"Well, um, you see, I've got this plate to finish, and then, um, I have to, ah…"

Rádgatá grinned, and Vasara knew with a sinking feeling that she wasn't going to be able to make any more excuses. The taller woman walked over and paused, "May I?" before lifting the heavy metal plate off the workbench, carefully inspecting it. Vasara resisted the urge to snatch it away from her.

"It needs more work—" she started, but was cut off.

"Nonsense. Maara said you've been here since dawn, and it's in excellent condition. I couldn't have done a better job myself."

Vasara couldn't help but smile slightly at the praise. "Well, it's a heavier material, and you know I work better with things that can handle a few blows from my hammer."

"In any case, it's great, and you should at least take a break. Come on," Rádgatá urged. "He's been waiting _ages _for this." Peering around the taller woman, Vasara spied Dreki up the street, happily chasing and being chased by a small cluster of children. Rádgatá whistled and the dragon immediately looked up in their direction before bounding over, the kids not far behind.

"Vasara is trying to get out of the flight she promised us, bud," she informed her dragon, whose eyes widened in mock surprise. "Think you can convince her?"

Rather than respond, the dragon inched closer to Vasara, head low and ears back, with wide eyes and a pathetically adorable expression on his face.

"Your tricks won't work on me, dragon," Vasara said without much strength, unable to look away.

Dreki whined softly, and the children who had gathered around behind him squealed with delight.

"He's so cute, Vasara!" one little boy cried out.

"How can you say no to that face?" an older girl asked, one hand on her hip.

"Yeah, how can you?" Rádgatá repeated, smiling devilishly. For a moment, Vasara felt she understood why Haku couldn't seem to spend enough time with this woman.

"Don't you have training to do with Maara or Haku?" she asked in a last-ditch effort to escape.

Rádgatá's smile didn't waver. "Nope. Today is all for you. Come on, I never figured you to be a chicken," she goaded, and Vasara rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a chicken, I just don't have a death wish."

"Do I look dead to you? Does Maara look dead to you?"

"When she comes home after training for three hours, yes."

It was Rádgatá's turn to roll her eyes. "Come on. Just one little flight. We promise not to do anything _too _crazy." With that, she reached out and grabbed Vasara's hand, pulling her behind her out of the shade of the forge. Dreki bounced around them eagerly, a big toothless grin on his face.

"Can we come too, _Missti Einn?_" one of the boys called out, and Rádgatá paused, turning back to look at him without releasing Vasara's hand.

"If you ask your parents and they say it's okay, I'll take you all flying sometime. Deal?"

"Deal!" Immediately the children ran off, shrieking and laughing. The black dragon looked after them fondly, before lowering himself to the ground and gazing at Vasara expectantly.

Rádgatá gently pulled Vasara closer to him, finally letting go of her hand. "Ladies first," she grinned, and Vasara looked down at her long skirt dubiously. She was wearing leggings underneath, but still…

"Can we go back to the house first?"

"Of course."

Once there, Vasara snuck into Maara's room, hoping her sister wouldn't mind her borrowing some clothes. Her younger sister was a bit shorter and slimmer, but her baggy pants happened to fit Vasara perfectly, as did an old tunic of Haku's.

Throwing on her boots, she shivered with nervous anticipation as she ran down the stairs, reflecting for a moment on how different life was when her father wasn't around. At the moment he was being watched by Elama at her mother's house, allowing Vasara, Maara, and Haku the freedom to resume their lives. It was a good thing, too, because Rádgatá was rapidly filling up all of their free time with her lessons and adventures. _Speaking of __R__á__dgat__á… _Vasara threw open the front door, nearly colliding with Maara.

"Maara!"

"Are those my pants?"

"I just need to borrow them for a while…"

"Since when do you wear pants?"

"Since now?"

"Oh?"

Vasara sighed. "Did you see Rádgatá outside?"

"Yes… is _that _why you need my pants?"

"Maybe?"

Maara squealed, not unlike the children that had played with Dreki earlier. "Oh, flying is the best, Vasara!"

"Yeah, so I've been told. Look, is she still out there or not?"

"Yeah, _Haku _is talking to her."

"Surprise, surprise," Vasara rolled her eyes, though she couldn't suppress her smile. "Okay, well I better get this over with. See you, Maara." Blinking at the bright midday sun, she closed the front door behind her, taking in the sight of Rádgatá grinning, one hand on Haku's shoulder, and her brother laughing as though he hadn't a care in the world.

Rádgatá made him happy, happier than Vasara had ever seen him. He seemed less afraid of taking over the chiefdom, less afraid of messing up, and more interested in living life to the fullest. _She does that for us all_, Vasara realized, and it humbled her. How had she ever not liked the woman?

A rumbling caught her attention and she looked over to see Dreki lounging in the shade, his bright blue eyes looking both curious and amused. She waved at him, then glanced back to where her brother and Rádgatá stood, now looking in her direction.

"Is that my tunic?" she heard Haku ask.

"Uh…"

"You ready?" the auburn-haired woman called, saving her from having to answer. As Rádgatá strode away from Haku without a backwards glance, Vasara saw how he looked after her, his gaze almost longing. _Oh boy._

"As ready as I'll ever be," she grumbled half-heartedly, before she felt something nudging her back and turned to see Dreki playfully crouching behind her.

Rádgatá came over and swung herself into the saddle, holding out one hand. "Let's go, then!"

Suddenly nervous again, Vasara slowly took her hand, squeaking in surprise when the other woman practically lifted her off the ground to straddle the dragon's shoulders. Immediately she wrapped her arms around Rádgatá's waist, looking anxiously over at her brother, who looked immensely entertained.

"All right, Vasara, we're going to do this nice and easy!" Haku gave her a cheerful wave, stepping back as Rádgatá told her to hold on. She felt Dreki rumbling beneath her as he crouched and spread his wings, before the entire world seemed to warp as he leapt skywards.

"_OH. MY. GODS!_" she screeched as they gained altitude, the wind roaring in her ears. She felt Rádgatá's torso shake with laughter within her desperate embrace, but was too terrified to be irritated.

By the time the black dragon leveled out, though, she was looking out over the island, jaw slack with awe. "Rádgatá… this is amazing!" she called out.

"See what you've been missing?"

"I never knew…"

When they landed about an hour later, Vasara couldn't contain her joy. Haku and Maara were waiting there, sitting on the deck stairs eating from the large bowl of fruit between them.

"How was it, Vasara?" Maara asked as she skipped over, followed by their older brother, who held out his arms to help her down. She welcomed the assistance, her knees nearly giving out as she returned to the ground, before Maara was upon her. Excited, the two sisters compared flight stories, each going to the bowl and taking out the biggest, ripest pieces to feed to Dreki.

Aeri accepted Haku's outstretched hand, though she didn't need it as she slid off of Shade's shoulders. Without waiting, her dragon followed Vasara and Maara, obviously ready for something sweet to eat, leaving her with him.

"I've never seen her so animated," Haku said, gesturing towards Vasara.

"He tends to have that effect on people," Aeri smiled, referring to Shade.

"I'm not so sure it's just him," he replied, and her smile faded a bit as she took in the implications of his words. But there wasn't time to brood for long, as there were things to be done, namely, getting Shade a real meal. After Vasara was finished hugging them, the pair left the three siblings to go fishing on the far side of the island, stopping in the meadow to grab Aeri's spear and basket, before heading to the beach.

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><p>Another two weeks passed, Aeri dividing her time between Haku's sisters, Shade, and Mika, who had quickly become accustomed to Aeri's presence, and even seemed to perk up when she and Shade would come by with a basket of fish every couple of days. Thanks to Vahna, Aeri had figured out which plants growing on the island would make a suitable salve to help with the pain in Mika's wing, which the young Grimler patiently allowed her to spread on the shredded, poisoned membrane. It was increasingly apparent that Mika would probably never fly again, which she was remarkably calm about. <em>If only they were on Berk, <em>Shade found himself thinking. _Hiccup and Gobber would probably think of some way to get her back into the sky._

Shade hadn't been able to shake his growing worry of the existence of a Queen nearby. _What should they do? _He and Aeri had been expecting something like that, after all, why else would the dragons make such coordinated attacks on the humans' village? Even so, it was an unpleasant reality to finally acknowledge. Obviously, he and Aeri were going to have to do something about the Queen, and "do something about" translated directly to "defeat or kill", which in itself didn't necessarily bother Shade, but how were they supposed to accomplish that? They had their fathers' success to look back on and analyze, but they couldn't expect the coming battle to be exactly like the one that had taken place more than twenty-five years before.

He wished he could actually speak to Aeri about it, but even if he could, he would still hesitate to interrupt her gradual acclimation into the village. Shade had gone back there again a few days ago, following closely behind Aeri early in the morning with Vasara and Maara to the forge, which he lounged outside of as the people of Heimme slowly came out of their homes for the day.

He'd waited for the three women to finish whatever they were working on, before they all came out together, waving at the curious crowd that had gathered at the sight of the black dragon in their midst. Aeri and he had promptly taken Maara into the forest for another training session, but were privately pleased that the older villagers had not been openly hostile or cold towards them.

Maara was really progressing. In less than a month she was already able to hold her wooden sword up for several hours at a time, although she still couldn't land a blow on Aeri, who danced around the younger girl's increasingly quick strikes.

One day, after a particularly rousing training session and refreshing flight, Aeri and Shade had dropped Maara off behind her house, but instead of heading inside, the girl had turned and asked, "Where do you go when you aren't here?"

"Well, we live up in a meadow at the base of the mountain, so we go back there most of the time."

"Surely you do other things besides that, though."

"Actually… we do. Would you like to come with us? We're going to go fishing on the other side of the island."

Shade wondered what Aeri was about. They _were _going fishing, but then they were going to the meadow to see Mika. While the Grimler had become very friendly towards Aeri, he was unsure as to how she would react to another human. At his questioning glance, Aeri had nodded. _She knew what she was doing. _

"I'd love to!" Maara dropped the wooden swords on the deck, running back over to clamber up behind Aeri on his back.

Later, after they had a basket full of fish, Aeri gestured to Maara, who was lounging with her feet in the water in nothing but her underwear, soaking up the sun, knowing that no one would see her indecency.

"Is it time to go back?"

"Not quite," and, her interest piqued, the younger girl quickly threw her clothes back on, once again taking Aeri's hand to be pulled into the saddle.

Shade took his time walking them through the forest, and when they were close he called out. "Mika? Mika!"

Caught off guard by his rumbling, Maara asked Aeri, "What is he saying?"

"I believe he is announcing us."

"Shade?"

Mika's voice drifted through the trees, and Maara stilled, hearing the sound. "Is that another…" she trailed off, filling with excitement.

And then they were in the clearing.

"Hi, Shade," Mika said, glancing over at him as he walked out of the trees before resting her head back on her front paws. "Who's your friend?"

Relieved that she wasn't going to freak out at the sight of another human, Shade introduced Maara as she and Aeri slid off his shoulders.

"Hi, Mika," Aeri called over, and the Grimler rumbled in return. "This is Maara. Maara, this is Mika."

"A Grimler?" Maara sounded nervous, and Shade looked over at her curiously.

"She's a young dragon, maybe in her early teens. She can't fly anymore. I think her wing was hurt in the last attack, and she's been here since then, avoiding us," Aeri explained, hoping to get Maara to relax.

Mika seemed to sense Maara's slight anxiety and rose, curious. Aeri gently held the girl in place as the Grimler approached, sniffing the air. Quietly, Aeri reached down to where she had dropped the basket and pulled out a fish, handing it to Maara, who looked alarmed.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Well, you should probably give it to her, unless you're planning on eating it yourself," Aeri replied. Shade laughed, the rumbling distracting Maara, who turned to glare at him. But when she turned back around, Mika was right in front of her, sitting on her haunches, waiting.

"Um…" Haku's sister held out the fish.

Mika glanced at Shade. "Do I just take it from her?"

"Let her toss it to you. Your teeth don't retract, and I don't think she'd appreciate losing her hand." The Grimler snorted, and obligingly opened her mouth.

"Do I let her take it from me?" Maara asked Aeri nervously.

"Toss it to her. She probably doesn't want to accidentally bite you. Her teeth don't retract like Shade's."

Shade couldn't help but smile. He and Aeri were basically on the same wavelength, all the time.

Swallowing her fear, Maara tossed the fish at Mika, who snatched it out of the air, swallowing it in one bite, before licking her lips.

"Um, did you like it?" Maara asked Mika awkwardly. The Grimler nodded, leaning in closer. "Should I give her another fish?" she looked to Aeri, who smiled encouragingly.

"If you want. But I think _she _wants you to pet her."

Gulping, Maara slowly extended her hand, and waited.

"I personally find it funny that you barely hesitated to pet a Night Fury, the fiercest dragon my people know of, but you're afraid of a Grimler that isn't even fully grown yet."

"Hey!" Mika said, affronted. "Just because I'm small doesn't mean I can't eat whoever I want!"

Shade cracked up at that. "She has a point, Mika," and the Grimler turned to glare at him.

Maara looked a little offended, too. "Well _my _people never had to deal with Night Furies, so Grimlers are the scariest things we can imagine."

"You're right," Aeri said, apologizing. "I'm sorry. But she won't hurt you. She even waited for you to give her the fish. Shade generally just takes it if he feels like you've kept him waiting for too long."

Squaring her shoulders, Maara raised her hand again. "Mika, would you mind if I touched you?"

The Grimler seemed surprised that Maara was even asking, but nodded, lowering her face to look the girl in the eye. Hesitantly, Haku's sister reached out and gently rested her hand on Mika's nose. The red dragon immediately began to purr, pleasantly surprising Maara.

"She likes you," Aeri told her, and with a small smile Maara brought up her other hand to rest on Mika's jaw.

"Well, she's a very beautiful dragon. And very nice, as well. So I like her, too."

"See?" Mika said, gloating. "This is a human with good taste in dragons."

Shade rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the clearing, talking and laughing and enjoying each others' company.

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><p><strong>Guys, I told myself I wouldn't do it, but… I kind of wrote some Hiccstrid stuff. No dragons, just… Them. Together. <em>Exploring. <em>I'll leave it at that, but if any of you have opinions on it, I might be persuaded to post some. Maybe. **

**Review!**


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